Life After Death
by Chica Inglesa
Summary: SEQUEL TO WARFARE. EDITED CHAPTER 13. Hermione, Ron, and Ginny hatch a plan to overthrow Tom from the inside. But, not is all as it seems, and Ginny soon finds herself embroiled in a web of deceit, along with battling her growing feelings for Tom.
1. Rome

A/N: Hey! It's me again, thanks for all your reviews for Warfare, deeply appreciate them, and now this story is a series of small tidbits of Tom and Ginny's life after the ending of Warfare. Please accept nicely, and not begrudgingly if it ruins what you pictured their life to be like, but I don't think it will. So, anyway, please read, and then review.

**LIFE AFTER DEATH:**

**Part One: Rome.**

Ginny stared up at the ceiling of the large and extravagantly decorated Chapel; the ceiling was rather unique as it was full of different images. "You see, Ginny," she heard Tom say as he came to stand beside her, "most of the scenes depicted here are from the Old Testament," his deep voice echoed around the Chapel as he continued to speak. "The central images are mostly based on the first book of the Bible, see," he pointed at one of the frescoes, "there is the Creation of Adam, and there is The Flood."

He turned to look at Ginny's face, seeing if she was listening, and he found that she was facing him, waiting for whatever he was about to say next. "Do you like it, Ginny?" he said in a low voice, and even that echoed throughout the spacious interior. Tom looked at her intently as if all depended upon her liking the paintings decorating the Sistine Chapel.

"They're beautiful," she replied, once again staring up at the ceiling, which was her favourite part.

"Some people say that Leonardo Da Vinci didn't finish his section, and had his assistant do it for him," Tom said, letting all his knowledge flaunt itself in front of Ginny, who simply replied with a slight 'mmm' sound. Tom took Ginny by the waist, getting her attention to himself once more, and led her to the end of the Chapel. "This shows The Final Judgement," he muttered into her ear, his voice sounding rather dangerous as he said this to her.

"I-I don't like this one…" she said uneasily, and it was enough for Tom, who instantly pulled her away from the painting. He didn't like her being displeased, especially with the things he showed her, or gave her.

"Well, I've had enough of this," Tom announced. He pulled Ginny by the hand as she continued to stare up at the ceiling again. She didn't want to leave, but what Ginny did not realise was that if she tugged on his hand, and placed her hand on her stomach, pouting at him as she did so, he would let her stay a while longer. But, Ginny let herself be led away from the heavenly sight of the wonderful paintings, and she hoped she would remember what they looked like.

Once the two of them were in the large carriage, Tom pulled Ginny onto his lap, and whispered things to her. "After this, I want you to rest when we get back to the manor," he laid a possessive hand on her 5 month pregnant stomach, "yes?"

"Yes, Tom," Ginny replied automatically, knowing the exact things to say at the certain words and phrases he uttered. "I know."

Tom smirked then, feeling pleased with himself at how well he handled her during this pregnancy, he felt he was doing a fantastic job, then again, Tom thought he always did a fantastic job. He had made sure that Ginny had three full meals everyday, that she had a nap in the afternoon to maintain some of her energy, and that every article of furniture was comfortable enough for her, if it wasn't then it would changed as quickly as possible. "She'll look like you, you know," he muttered to Ginny.

"What?" Ginny said, confused at the sudden change of topic.

"My daughter will look like you," he repeated, tapping his fingers on her stomach for emphasis, "and I shall have two princesses."

It had been his favourite subject to talk to her about ever since he found out she was pregnant again, and it didn't endear her to him much, which was what he was actually trying to do. Ginny was actually pleased she was pregnant, because he hadn't touched her once, but Tom was more overbearing, and it was irritating. Sometimes, Ginny didn't feel like taking a nap in the afternoon, and sometimes she didn't feel like eating lunch either.

"Here we are, Ginny," she heard him say as he pushed open the carriage door, "the Colosseum…."

Here we go again… she thought tiredly.

* * *

Tom looked down at Ginny as she slept peacefully, and he wondered if she was dreaming; it wasn't the first time he had thought about it, and he had even questioned her about her dreams one time, but she simply replied that they were about silly, weird things. He did not like the fact that she kept things from him, and over the past two years she had been distant like that toward him. Only giving short replies to his questions, or comments, usually by now he would have done something about it, like shout at her, or smack her as though she were an unruly child. 

Now, however, Tom did not get the same feeling when he hurt her as he had before, he liked to hear her cry, and scream before, but now he wanted to hear her laugh, and that would be a challenge. Ginny never smiled at Tom, or initiated a kiss, and she most certainly would not laugh; she only ever laughed if she was playing with Leo.

Tom sat down beside her, running a hand over her stomach, not worrying if she would wake up or not as he thought her a heavy sleeper. Surprisingly, Tom did not mind that it was a girl, perhaps she would become more attached to him than his son was. And this time, _he_ would name the child, since Ginny had tried to make a mockery of him by naming his son, _his_ son, after a damn Lion. She aggravated him a lot during the first few months of her return; hiding from him, refusing to eat her dinner with him, and generally being a nuisance, so he locked her in their room, without being able to see their son. And she soon cracked, promising to be good if she could just see Leo, after hearing his cries each night. Now, she was pregnant again, and to show how delighted he was, he presented her with the rarest blue diamonds known to man the day after it had been confirmed.

Ginny awoke as she felt Tom touch her stomach, keeping her eyes closed though, wishing he would go away, and leave her be. Wasn't it enough that he had confined her to being pregnant again? Why wasn't he doing his work? She couldn't, however, find that same loathing she once harboured for him, and she supposed her feelings toward him had been demoted, almost unconsciously, to indifference. Ginny thought that his blind devotion for her was beginning to _blind_ her, or, she hoped, it was her hormones.

She almost flinched upon feeling his lips touch hers gently, and she restrained herself from opening her eyes, then she heard him whisper her name affectionately, stroking her stomach with extra tenderness. Ginny didn't know he could be so… soft. She had thought he would have been angry with a daughter, and, secretly, she wished he had been, because when it was born, how could she know how he would treat her? Judging on how he went on about how 'precious' his daughter would be to him, she supposed he would be OK, but things change…. Ginny felt like she would be sick whenever he talked about his daughter being his 'second princess', but then again, it was probably when she was suffering from morning sickness.

"I know you're awake," she heard Tom suddenly say, "don't worry, I'm not angry."

Ginny's eyes fluttered open slowly, seeing Tom's handsome face hovering over her. "How did you know?" she whispered.

"You're eyes were moving," he muttered. Ginny turned away, smiling slightly at her silly mistake. "No, don't," he said quickly, turning her back to him, "I want to see your smile." And this was a man who had murdered millions within two years, what was the world coming to? He brushed his fingers over her lips, stroking her face with his other hand, and he leant over her to kiss her once more. "Did my kiss wake you, Sleeping Beauty?"

"Yes," she decided to say, even though it was a lie, it had been his intimidating hands that had woken her. He bent his head to continue his kiss, and Ginny knew he was extremely gullible when it came to her, even though he had believed her lies before, and that had resulted in dire consequences for him, yet he still chose to believe her. "Tom…" she moaned, just to see if he would accept her act, "oh… Tom…" she gasped out, upon feeling him bite her neck gently, wanting to leave his mark on her.

"Ginny," he whispered, "have you felt her move yet?"

"No," she replied, "I'll tell you when she does," ensuring that he wouldn't ask her again.

Tom was pleased with that, and he kissed her forehead with a smile.

* * *

A/N: OK, I know it wasn't long, but the next tidbit is quite long, so that makes up for it. Anyway, just tell me what you think. Also, the bit about the Sistine Chapel, I don't know if the part about Da Vinci is true, but it has been speculated, I _did_ get it off the internet. I also know that Michaelangelo painted most of frescoes in the Chapel, so please don't moan about this. Thank you for reading. Also, I would like at least **8 reviews.**


	2. Christmas

**LIFE AFTER DEATH:**

**Part Two: Christmas.**

Tom tiredly pushed his shirt buttons through the holes, suppressing the urge to yawn as he had gotten up earlier than usual to sort out the dinner arrangements with the house-elves. It was a special day today; it was Christmas, not that Tom usually cared about the season, but Ginny had asked him oh so sweetly whether they could make it special for Leo, and after much deliberation, Tom finally agreed. But, he had decided to make it special for Ginny as well, and he looked over her dressing table, where there were 5 velvet boxes containing necklaces made from the rarest jewels in the world, and Tom's men had gone to a lot of trouble to scour the Earth for them.

He smiled as he walked over to where Ginny was laying, fast asleep, and he bent over her, kissing her unmoving lips gently so as not to wake her. She had grown bigger now, and they suspected the baby would be born sometime in February, so that meant waiting longer. Tom stood straight, smoothing out his shirt, and leaving for the kitchens; he felt like taking a walk, hence not calling for a house-elf.

As Tom walked down the corridors, he decided to see if his son was still sleeping, and when he checked he saw that he was. Tom noticed how vulnerable Leo looked as he slept, and Tom hoped he had not looked so vulnerable like that when he was younger. It was Ginny's influence, he thought as he continued walking down the hall to the large and extravagantly decorated staircase. Tom had tried to teach his 2 year old son the importance of commanding respect and authority, but he had simply stared dumbly up at him, chewing at the sleeve of his expensive robe. Ginny had laughed, rather mockingly, as she saw what was happening, and picked up Leo, taking him away from Tom.

"He doesn't _care_ about that stuff," she had sniggered as she pressed her finger on his small nose, "he just wants his toys, don't you?" she said to Leo, who nodded his head, still with a dumb expression on his face.

Tom hated it when Ginny knew things that he didn't, how was he supposed to know what the damn kid wanted when he uttered nonsense like 'snate', what the hell was a 'snate'? The kid was crazy; Tom had caught him trying to jump off the banister, and he had even found him sitting on top of one of the bookcases in the library, sleeping! He wondered if Ginny had told Leo to do those things just to annoy him, but Ginny was too protective of him to even think about asking him to do that. Ah, well, the kid must be crazy then.

Tom had finally reached the kitchens, and as soon as he had pushed the small oak door open, all the house-elves lined up hastily, bowing in unison, and eagerly awaiting their orders. He didn't know why people punished their house-elves, they were obedient, and unquestioning; they were perfect servants. "I want breakfast at the usual time," he began, "and I want lunch made for Ginny only. Now, for the dinner, I want three meats; turkey, ham, and beef, and for the vegetables, I want cabbage, brussels, broccoli, and cauliflower, and make sure there are two full plates of roast potatoes, and Yorkshire puddings."

Whilst Tom was instructing them, the house-elves heads were nodding up and down so fast, it was a wonder that their necks hadn't snapped. "For the pudding, make Ginny and Leo a small trifle. Is all this understood?"

"Yes, sire!" they said all at the same time, bowing low, and once Tom had turned to leave the kitchen, they all began their duties.

Tom walked back down the corridor from which he came, and wondered whether Ginny would appreciate what he had done for her, she _had_ asked him to make it special. When Tom arrived back in the bedroom he saw that Ginny no longer occupied the large, over-sized bed, but the sound of running water filled his ears, and he knew that she must be washing. To pass time, he picked a dress out for Ginny to wear, choosing a sunflower yellow one with long sleeves and a deep, round neck.

Ginny came out of the bathroom, wearing his black silk bathrobe over her blue chemise, she had tied the sash above her stomach, and one of the sleeves had slipped off her shoulder. Tom thought she looked better in it than he did as he held out his hand to her, gesturing for her to take it.

"Come, Ginny," he said in a firm voice, "I want you to see the presents I've gotten you."

She took his hand and let herself be led to her dressing table where the velvet boxes lay untouched. "What is it?" she said quietly.

"Open them and you'll see," he replied, and he watched her as she gingerly unhooked the catch on one of the boxes, gasping softly at what was inside, and tentatively touching the jewels adorning the otherwise simple necklace. She proceeded to open the rest, but with less enthusiasm, and she simply stood there. "Do you like them?" Tom questioned, his hand on her exposed shoulder.

"Oh, er, yes," she muttered.

"It took ages to find them, Ginny," Tom said in a hard tone. Didn't she like them? What was wrong with them? They were perfect in his eyes. "And I had the jewels especially crafted to fit the necklaces."

"OK," she answered simply. "I'll wear this one," she said, pointing to one with a green-coloured gemstone in the middle of it, and, with that, she turned from him and picked up the yellow dress that Tom had lain out on the bed. He stared at her as she kept her back to him whilst she got dressed, his sharp features hardening at the way she had accepted his gifts. The kid better like his presents, he had to ask Ginny what to get, and she better not have been wrong, because another rejection would make him very, very angry.

* * *

Leo did like his presents; they were simply an assortment of toys. Tom couldn't remember himself ever wanting so many toys when he was a young boy. All Tom had ever played with was the old abacus that he had found under his bed at the orphanage. When Ginny had taken Leo downstairs with her to show him his new toys, he had cried out in excitement and ran to them, clumsily so, and looking as though he might have fallen over in the process. 

Now they sat to eat the enormous dinner the house-elves had made, with Tom at the head of the table, and Ginny on his right hand side. Leo sat beside Ginny defiantly, not wanting to sit away from his mother.

Halfway through the meal, Leo began talking his nonsense to Ginny, who seemed to understand what he was saying perfectly, and answered with ease, and listened with true intent. Tom just ate his food, staring at Ginny, and feeling something stir within the depths of his stomach, it felt familiar; he had felt it before. Why didn't she talk to him like that? Why did she seem to prefer her son's nonsensical chatter to his intelligent one? So many unfathomable questions that needed to be answered. He shook himself out of his thoughts to see Leo with his head on Ginny's stomach.

"Can you hear her, Leo?" she said gently.

"Baby," he answered in a happy voice.

"Can you feel her kicking?" Ginny questioned in the same gentle tone.

Leo nodded his head fastidiously. Tom reached his hand out, he wanted to feel her kick, and he placed his hand on the vacant space of Ginny's stomach. Ginny looked up at him with a blank expression as the baby kicked against his hand, and Tom just stared back, his eyes holding a sharp expression as he said in a low, firm voice; "You were supposed to tell me when she began moving, Ginny," he pressured his hand on her abdomen, reminding her that this was _his_ child, "and don't give me any excuses," he muttered as he saw her mouth open to say something. He stood then, leaving his empty dinner plate, and exiting the dining room; it was so sudden a thing to do that Ginny was at a loss with herself.

She watched him leave, and felt that annoying pity again, the pity that she shouldn't feel for a murderer. Ginny knew why she felt sorry for him; she was a type of person who didn't like when love failed, or when someone loved another, but they didn't love them back; she, herself, knew it well. But, Ginny didn't go after him; she stayed and ate the rest of her dinner, and helped Leo eat his pudding.

Tom had gone to his study, his cloak billowing threateningly as he had walked, and now he sat in his leather armchair, downing a glass of whiskey. Never again, he thought, never again will I make any effort for this stupid day. He had only done it for her, and she did this; he could handle the necklace thing, but she hadn't told him that the baby had started to move, when she had specifically told him that she would. The girl needed to be put back in her place, and that place was beneath him, in every aspect of the word.

He stood up then, undoing the clasps on his cloak, and placing it on the arm of the chair. Tom walked over to the bay window, where it looked out onto the snow-covered gardens, and he glanced down onto the grounds upon seeing a flash of red at the corner of his eye; it was Ginny, and she was wearing her black fur cloak, and she was watching Leo playing about in the snow ahead of her. Tom pushed open one of the small windows, immediately feeling a rush of cold air blow through his hair, but now he could hear if they were talking or not.

"Leo," he heard Ginny call, "look," she pointed upwards, "can you see the little bird in the tree?" He nodded in acknowledgement. "It's called a Robin, can you say 'Robin'?"

"Ro… Rorin!" he exclaimed with a smile.

"Close enough."

Tom was at an advantage now; his daughter would be born with him there, and this time, Ginny wouldn't be able to make her adverse to him. He would teach her appropriately, and find out ways to educate her as a baby, and she wouldn't talk incoherent nonsense all the time. This would be a fresh start.

"Mama, where Daddy go?" Tom wondered why the hell Ginny had taught him to say 'Daddy', it was meant to be 'Father'.

"I don't know, darling," she answered gently. "Maybe you can ask him tomorrow." Ginny reached out for the young boy's hand, and she bent down slowly to kiss him on the head. "Come on, it's starting to snow, Leo, and Laura is going to give you bath."

"No!" he said loudly, although continuing to be led away by Ginny.

Tom felt that nasty feeling in his stomach again as he lost sight of Ginny; he deserved her affections after all that he had done for her. He had let her see her tiresome brother, Ron, and her Mudblood friend, Granger, every month, and he had even located her other brothers, Fred and George. He wanted her to act like the wife she was, and he would make her, no matter what.

* * *

Ginny ran a brush through her hair, humming a tune she had once heard at Hermione's house; she was grateful for these times alone, having just put Leo to bed, since he was sometimes rather demanding, much like Tom was. Except they demanded very different things. Then Ginny wondered if she had spoken too soon as the bedroom door opened. 

"What is wrong with you?" she heard Tom say.

"What?" she said in a bewildered tone.

"What is wrong with you?" he repeated in a much harsher tone than he had before. "I've made it special, like you asked, yet you take no notice of what I've done for you."

"I didn't ask you to do it for me," Ginny stated matter-of-factly, making Tom angrier than he already was, "I asked you to do it for Leo, and if you hadn't noticed, he was very appreciative."

"And the baby," he continued, "when did she start moving, Ginny?"

"Last week," she replied bluntly.

"Last week?" he hissed. "And why didn't you tell me?" he said in a threatening voice, stepping closer to her slowly.

"I-I don't know," she said quietly, beginning to realise that Tom had become his old self again, the old self that would hurt her; she hadn't seen him like that since before she was pregnant, and it seemed so long ago.

"You don't know," Tom said with a short, cold laugh. "Perhaps, Ginny, you noticed that I haven't laid a finger on you in case I harmed the baby, and you thought you could get away with enraging me, well, let me remind you, _dear_, that I will put you in your place." Ginny flinched away from him at his violent tone. "And there it is," he whispered in deadly voice, "the fear that I once relished, maybe I can learn to love it again." He gripped her wrist hard, causing her to wince in pain, and he saw that she laid a hand protectively over her stomach. "You dare to shield my own child from me, Ginevra?" he said in a loud voice, and he yanked her closer to him, receiving a hard, resounding backhand to her face. "My own child!" he shouted at her.

Ginny cried out in agony as a bruise already began to form on her cheek, and she would have sunk to the floor had it not been for Tom's tight grip on her wrist. It stung even as slight tears rolled down her cheek, and she reached up to touch the swollen bruise, only to recoil in pain once more. "I hate you," she whispered, her voice trembling.

"What did you say?" he said, yanking her harder toward him.

"I said I hate you!" she shrieked.

And she received another slap. "No, you don't," he shouted, "you love me!" He shook her by the arms, ignoring her thrashes of resistance, his face showing the extent of his anger, but his eyes showing something else. "You will always love me…" he murmured in a calmer voice, his hands running down her arms to settle on her abdomen, and then to wrap around her, "always…" he murmured, his forehead resting on her shoulder. His breathing was ragged, and the hotness of it hit Ginny's chest, making her want to move away from him, but he held fast. Tom lifted his head then, and Ginny stared wide-eyed at him; the ferociousness had gone, and he looked down at her thoughtfully. "You're crying," he said quietly, and lifted his hand to her face, causing her to wince in terror, but all he did was touch her swollen cheek. "I hurt you," he covered her cheek with his hand, despite the agony she was in, and he kissed her once on the lips, then, the pain was gone.

Ginny waited until he removed his hand, and she touched her cheek; it wasn't swollen anymore… he must have healed it. It didn't stop her from crying though, _he_ was still there, still in her life, ruining everything for her, and yet she still felt sorry for him. He left her standing there as he walked over to the balcony doors; it was dark out now, and the clouds had dispersed to reveal a perfectly starry night. She stared at him, looking very ethereal indeed, his dark hair contrasting starkly with the paleness of his skin, and she walked over to where he was. "Tom," she said quietly, not understanding why she was doing this, "the baby's kicking."

* * *

**Dracoandme:** Well, she said it, but obviously, Tom didn't really take any notice. 

**HarryGinnyfan23:** Thanks, I'm glad you liked chapter 1, and I hope you like this chappie.

**Amalia Bradley:** It's 'Warfare', thanks for your review anyway:-)

**Maron-chan:** You're right, it won't be as long as the previous story, as they are only little one-shots. Please review again.

A/N: Sorry to those who I didn't reply to, but I am really grateful for your reviews, so thanks to everyone that reviewed anyway, and I might reply on the next chapter. Please R&R. Hope you enjoyed this chapter. **8 Reviews** please, thatnk you. Reviews are a bit like being paid, you see.


	3. New Year's Eve

**LIFE AFTER DEATH:**

**Part Three: New Years Eve.**

Ginny looked down at the new dress that Tom had just presented to her; it was dark purple with an almost unnoticeable red flower pattern that went all the way down to her feet, the sleeves were purple too, and made out of chiffon. In one word the dress meant 'extravagant', and Tom obviously wanted to show her off at the New Years Eve party that very night.

"Aren't you supposed to be _receiving_ presents?" she said with an inquiring look. "You're not meant to be _giving_ them."

"What are you on about?" Tom frowned at her.

"Well, it is your birthday, isn't it?" Ginny pointed out, placing the dress carefully on the bed as she spoke. "And it is a well-known tradition that you receive presents on your birthday."

"I am aware of that, Ginny," he said bluntly as he began to sneer at her matter-of-fact tone again, "but, I don't need presents, I have what I want, and I don't need anymore." Tom pulled her toward him, twirling a loose tendril of her red hair around his index finger. "And why do you care that it is my birthday?" he whispered in her ear.

Ginny shrugged. "I don't know," she replied, "perhaps I was just curious as to why you always buy me things." She gestured to the dress on the bed.

"Because, you're my little Empress," he said quietly, reaching down to touch her large stomach, "and so you should look like one." Tom liked showing off how beautiful his girl was, because he knew that his followers envied him since most of their wives were brash, cold, and rather fake. But, Ginny rarely spoke unless she was required to at the social gatherings; she hated most of the people that attended, and she remained at Tom's side at all times, but that was just because he had ordered her to stay next to him. She acted too; by holding Tom's arm dutifully, and touching him with her free hand, she could give the impression of eagerness if he was talking to her, or the impression of warmth and caring if he were talking with someone else. "Ginny," he whispered into her neck, "maybe the best present for me would be that you remained attentive to me tonight."

"Well, I can't walk here and there," she replied in a lucid tone, "I can hardly bear to stand for too long."

"I've had a special throne made for you, comfortable," he said as he turned her to press her back against him, "and, so, you don't have to stand up unless you want to."

"Oh," she said, and she felt herself falling into his arms, closing her eyes as he stroked her stomach gently. Then she realised what she was doing, her body was betraying her, and she took control immediately; she wriggled out of his grasp, and faced him again. Tom stared at her as she looked down. "Tom, can I ask for something?" she said in her soft voice.

"What?" he said in an almost eager tone since she was actually asking something of him.

"Can I visit my brother?" she said tentatively.

"I thought you didn't want to visit him," he said in a hard tone, "you told me he would be angry at you for being pregnant."

"I don't care anymore," she said with a frown, her arms folded across her chest tightly, "I want to see him, and Hermione."

"And the Mudblood, too?" he sneered, turning his back to her. "Tell me, Ginevra, weren't you jealous of her because she went around with Potter?" He smirked to himself as he said this; no matter how much he wanted Ginny to be happy, he did like the occasional sad face.

"I don't love Harry anymore," she whispered, and his smile grew wider at this, "and that was years ago, Tom."

He spun on her, grabbing her arms, and looking hungrily down at her. "Who do you love?" he said in a low voice, the look in his eyes becoming very hazy and dream-like as his breath quickened. "Who do you love?" he repeated in a growled tone.

Ginny stared back up at him, her eyes looking worried, and her mouth open slightly at Tom's reaction to what she had just said. "You," she finally whispered, lifting her hands to settle on his chest, "I love you," and she rested herself against his tense frame, his hands still gripping her arms tightly. "Tom… you're hurting me," she said gently.

And he let her go instantly, leaving his hands to fall to her waist. "You can visit them after breakfast, Ginny," he stated clearly to her. "And do you think you can handle wearing your own bathrobe tomorrow?"

"No," she replied, "I like yours better, it's not pink. I mean, whoever told you pink goes well with redheads?"

* * *

Tom kept his promise, and after breakfast Ginny did go to see Ron, but was told that her brother was still sleeping, so she just looked in on him; he looked very healthy indeed for a prisoner so close to Harry Potter. Ginny was glad that Tom had kept his promise to her by keeping Ron alive. Now, Ginny had just entered Hermione's cell.

It was spacious, and rather cosy looking; it looked like a normal room, except with bars surrounding the door, and windows. Hermione looked healthy too, and clean. "Hello, Ginny," Hermione said from her place on the small bed by the window. "I've been wondering why you haven't been visiting, and, well, now I know."

Ginny gave a nervous smile at Hermione's calmness. "How have you been, Hermione?" Ginny said softly.

"Oh, fine," she replied, rather enthusiastically, "I suppose I'm better off than you are… sorry…" Hermione said quietly.

"It's OK," Ginny replied, "I suppose I've gotten used to it; Tom's obsession that is. I even had to tell him that I loved him this morning, just to see you," Ginny said in a low voice in case a guard overheard. "How was Christmas?"

"They let me and Ron eat together," Hermione replied with a small smile. "He really misses your visits, you know, and he's worried about you."

"I was scared he'd be angry with me," Ginny admitted, "even I was ashamed with myself when I first found out. It's like my body is betraying me, Hermione, it won't close off to him, it will readily give him the children he wants," she gestured to her burgeoning stomach, "and just this morning it was willing to fall into his arms."

"Maybe you are falling in love with him," Hermione stated, standing up to casually peer out of the window. Ginny could not understand how Hermione could be so calm about this, and her situation.

"How can you even say that, Hermione?" Ginny said in a demanding tone.

"It's a possibility," Hermione said in a firm voice, "the way he treats you now is very different from how he _used_ to treat you, Ginny. He takes you around the world, he buys you expensive gifts, he says nice, albeit obsessive, things to you, and, well, you are carrying his baby. What is it this time? Another boy?"

"No, a girl," Ginny answered dutifully. "He hit me the other day, just because I didn't tell him that the baby had began to kick, how can I love that?"

"I don't know, Ginny," Hermione replied with a smile, "maybe you have a thing for bad boys."

"Come on," Ginny scoffed, "he's _too_ bad, anyway." She watched Hermione's next movements as she sat back on the bed, sighing. "I always thought that I'd be working for the Ministry, you know, or some other job."

"Well, I had aspirations, too, Ginny," Hermione muttered. "How do you think I feel? I can't even remember the last time I felt a cool breeze…."

"I know, I'm sorry, Hermione…" Ginny had trailed off at the strange glow in Hermione's face. "What?" she said nervously.

"You know, Ginny, you're the closest to the Dark Lord -."

"No, I'm not-!"

"You are," Hermione insisted, "and you know it. You could get me and Ron out of here, all you have to do is sweet-talk him-."

"What!" Ginny exclaimed. "I don't have that kind of power over Tom, and even if I did get you out, what are you going to do after?"

"Gradually build up a resistance," Hermione replied smoothly, "and you do have that power over him; he's obsessed with you loving him, isn't he?"

"Well, yes," Ginny replied, her head reeling at this crazy idea, "but there is no one left, Hermione, who is going to go along with this resistance?"

"Oh, I don't know, Ginny," Hermione said in an irritated voice. "I just want to get out of here, and so does Ron. You're the only person that can help us, Ginny, if you come back tomorrow, I'll give you my plan, and you can forward it to Ron."

"Hermione, I'm heavily pregnant here, I can't involve myself in these dangerous plans right now," Ginny said quietly.

"You don't have to do anything, Ginny," Hermione continued, "all you do is talk to him, that is all."

"What if he found out?" Ginny questioned worriedly. "He would kill you no matter what I ask of him, and then he would punish me, and harm the baby. And, I'm still not sure that I can easily persuade him to do as I want."

"Ginny, if we execute this carefully, then it will work," Hermione said gently to soothe a nearly hysterical Ginny, "and he'll hardly hurt you since you are pregnant. It will work, Ginny, I promise you. All you have to do is show some kind of affection to him, and he will do your bidding."

"He has some limits, Hermione," Ginny said bluntly.

"I'm sure he does," she said pleasingly. "Tell me you'll help us, Ginny, please…?"

* * *

Tom gazed at Ginny as she stood in front of the mirror, the light flickering from the torches on the walls made her hair appear more fiery than usual, and she looked even more beautiful in the dark purple dress he had given to her that morning. He was wearing black trousers, a very dark red shirt with ornate silver markings along the chest area, and long black robe with similar silver markings, but his favourite part of the outfit was his boots; they looked as though they could crush a persons ribs quite easily. And there was Ginny, looking so vulnerable, she wouldn't hurt a fly, let alone crush ribs.

"Ginny," he said in a calm voice as he stood behind her, "are you ready?" He placed his gloved hand on her stomach, causing her to jump slightly. "What's wrong? Is the baby restless?"

"No," she replied, her voice trembling, "I-I… I'm just nervous, that's all, yes, I'm just nervous…" she flashed a smile up at him, and stiffened as she felt him bring her closer to him, scared at how her body would react. Tom kissed her bare shoulder, then proceeded to suck on her neck despite her protests that they were going to be late.

"I want to make love to you," he growled hungrily, "I want to feel you again…."

"Not now… Tom," she gasped as he bit her neck gently, "I'll be too exhausted to go to the party… maybe later, if I'm not tired."

"The voice of reason speaks again," he sighed, and she had saved herself. "I can't wait for this baby to be born," he muttered, "I'll have you to myself again. Come then, let's go," he held out his arm for her to take, and she took it like she always did, allowing herself to be led away.

* * *

The next day, Ginny visited Hermione, having told Tom that she had visited them for only one day of the month, and that she was eligible to go and visit them again since it was a new month. Hermione had instructed Ginny to tell Tom after her February visit that she and Ron had broken to the will of the Death Eaters, and that they were willing to comply. She had also told Ginny to ask Tom if Hermione and Ron could see each other, since she thought it best if Hermione told Ron that Ginny was pregnant again, and she could explain the plan to him as well.

So, now, Ginny sat on her bed, contemplating on how to ask Tom of this until he lay next to her on his side, staring at her, and he reached out to touch her stomach, but changed his mind and rested his ear against her instead. She smiled as she remembered what Hermione said about showing affection. "Are you tired?" she said softly, placing a hand on his head, and running her fingers through his jet-black hair.

"I had to check through a lot of plans," he muttered, "and I went to the base in Brazil, and too many incompetent idiots infuriated me."

"Well, I'm here now," she said soothingly.

He grinned, his eyes closed. "I can hear the baby," he stated in a low voice, and Ginny wondered at what moment she should ask him, and when she saw that he was sitting up, leaning forward to kiss her, she let him. Then she felt him slide his hand up under her nightdress, and she decided that that was the opportune moment.

"Tom, I need to ask you something," she said quietly, "before we…" and she saw a light flare up in his eyes when he heard her indication that she was going to spread her legs for him. He nodded in acknowledgement, and she continued. "Well, I was wondering if you could allow Hermione and Ron to visit each other once in a while; they miss arguing with one another."

"What?" he said stonily, his eyes snapping back to reality until Ginny touched his chest, and looked up at him with a doe-eyed expression. "Visit each other?" he muttered. "I'll think about it."

"Does that mean 'yes'?" she pouted.

Tom stared at her as he felt her undo his shirt buttons, then he pushed her down, kissing her fiercely. "Yes," he mumbled, "yes, it means 'yes'." Ginny smirked as he buried his face in her neck, feeling she still had her old ability, but she couldn't stop thinking whether she was falling for her own act.

* * *

**Studiofreek:** Thanks for your review, I liked your analysis since I was actually trying to show this. So, thanks!

**All American girl 50:** Sometimes it's really tempting to write Tom like that, and sometimes it does leak through, but it's just because he likes Ginny so much. Thanks for reviewing, please review again!

**PrinceDiamondLuver:** He is, isn't he? There's nothing like a bad boy to get you going! Thanks for your review!

**Beauty-turning-beast:** I'm glad you like it, I hope this chapter lives up to the previous chapters.

**A/N:** Can any of you readers draw? Because I would really like to see some pictures of this fic, since I'm rubbish at improvising pictures. So, if anyone is interested, please contact me via e-mail, and show me your work, and I'll post one on my profile page everytime I update!

Anyway, thanks for all of your reviews, sorry I couldn't get around to answering others, it's just that I can't reply to very short reviews. Also, the normal **8 REVIEWS** please, they are greatly appreciated, and remember, it's like getting paid, which I ain't getting in real life, unfortunately. If I was getting real money, I wouldn't be updating as often as I do.

**Next Chapter:** It's called **_Elizabeth_**, and perhaps you can guess what is going to happen in that chapter, but I don't know when I'll be posting it, maybe next week on Friday, or Wednesday as I'm going out on Thursday.


	4. Elizabeth

**LIFE AFTER DEATH**

**Part Four: Elizabeth.**

As Ginny opened her eyelids lazily, she saw that the sky outside was a mixture of purple and pinks, as though it were a very large painting, and she realised that it was early morning, the sun was just beginning to rise. She had been doing that a lot lately, waking up early. Ginny supposed it was because the baby was going to be born soon, and that she had become restless in her sleep since her back had been killing her, and although she had been given a potion to dull the ache, the baby would not still, she was moving with much more fervour than before. Tom had confined her to their sleeping quarters because of this; he sensed it too, the long-awaited arrival, and somewhere deep within his stomach, he felt nervous. What if something happened to Ginny, or the baby? A doctor had been kept within close proximity because of this too.

She pushed herself up slowly, sitting on the edge of the bed for a short time to wake herself up a bit more. Ginny laid a hand on her stomach, and sighed. "Oh… when will you be born, little one? Mummy's tired…." She felt an authoritive hand on her slender shoulder, and she covered it with her own small one. Ginny felt him touch her stomach with his free hand, and kiss her neck once. "How long have you been awake?" she whispered, not wanting to unsettle the calm scene.

"Before you," he replied quietly. "I had my hand on the baby, and she began moving…" he trailed off, as if he couldn't be bothered to speak anymore, and was content to just sit with Ginny like this in silence. They just ignored the beautiful scene of the sunrise, the pinks becoming yellows, and the purples becoming blues, and paid all their attention to Ginny's large stomach.

The slight movements kept their full attention for some time, until Ginny suddenly sharply inhaled, and winced. "What?" Tom said with a frown, and Ginny groaned in reply. "What is it!" he said urgently, standing swiftly from the bed.

"I… I think it's…the baby," she finally got out; she held out her hand for him to take, she needed someone now, and he was the best candidate. Last time, she'd had nobody to hold her hand, she hadn't _wanted_ anyone to hold her hand, but it was different now. She felt him take it with a sense of calmness, and control. "I think… ohh… the baby's coming."

Tom touched her stomach with his free hand, and helped her lay back down, propping the pillows behind her head, and Ginny watched him do this with an air of gratification. He called for a house-elf to retrieve the doctor, and her nurses. It seemed as though everything was going unnaturally fast, just like when she had given birth to Leo, it all seemed quick, and though it was painful, it was over before she knew it. Ginny could only hope for that same leeway this time.

He sat dutifully beside her; his face was a mask of absolute tranquillity despite his over-protectiveness of her previously. It annoyed her, why the hell was he so calm when she had to endure pain that he had deliberately caused? When she felt a contraction rush through her she cried out, and squeezed his hand a bit harder than she needed too, yet he still sat calmly, smiling reassuringly at her.

Tom watched everything unfold around him as it was time for Ginny to start pushing, and panting; he found he couldn't soothe her when she cried so suddenly, and began to shout at him, blaming him, telling him that it was his fault. He couldn't believe what she was saying, and it wasn't until one of the nurses had told him that lots of women say things like that in the midst of pain and exhaustion that he could return to his settled state. Tom vaguely wondered if Ginny really meant it.

* * *

Tom stared cautiously down at the small baby; she was just lying there, staring up at him from her crib. He wondered what it felt like to suddenly be thrust out into a completely different setting, and to have all that room to move around in compared to a somewhat squashed environment previously. It was difficult to comprehend.

The nurses had placed her in a pink blanket as soon as they had finished checking over everything, making sure that Ginny was OK, along with the baby. They had also placed a white baby bonnet on her head to keep it warm.

Ginny was asleep, exhausted from endless pushing. He smiled then, the baby was so small, yet it had caused such a furore. Already causing chaos as soon as her life was beginning; he liked her instantly.

"Is she still awake?" he heard a tired voice say.

"Very much so," he replied, "she's been staring at me for hours."

"Maybe because you're staring at her," Ginny pointed out, her voice groggy from sleep. "I want to see her," she said gently, pushing herself up, "can you show me her, Tom?" Tom reached down, and picked the baby up, much to Ginny's dismay since he was no good at holding babies, but he gave her to Ginny quickly, without any fuss, who held her expertly. "She's beautiful," she whispered, and then she smirked, "much like me, of course," she said jokingly. "Has Leo come here at all?" She questioned as she adjusted the cotton bonnet.

"Earlier on," he muttered, more interested in the baby girl, "he tried waking you up, but I told him off."

"You told him off?" she said, looking up at him.

"Yes, he needs a good telling off, he needs a slap from time to time as well," Tom replied, still trying to see the baby better, although he had seen her non-stop for hours on end. "You treat him too delicately, Ginny, how can I expect him to become a powerful wizard?"

"I don't know," she muttered, too tired to argue.

"Yes, well…" he trailed off, and pulled the bonnet back slightly to reveal the girl's head; it had tiny dark red curls on it, like Ginny's, and he smirked. "I suppose she is like you, Ginevra, but, her personality… that may be a little different." He pushed the bonnet back up, not wanting her head to become cold. "I want to name her Elizabeth," he muttered absentmindedly.

"Why Elizabeth?" Ginny said, frowning lightly, she had wanted to name her Sienna… but she supposed it was only fair that he get to name his daughter, since he had been unable to name his son.

"Because I want to," he replied in a firm voice, "it is the name I chose, and so it shall be the name she will have. Unless, of course, you wanted to name her Leona," he said sarcastically.

"I just wanted to know why," she said quietly, looking down at the small baby, who had fallen asleep to the sound of her parents' voices. Ginny wondered whether this was her duty in life; to bear the Dark Lord's children, because she certainly had not been prepared for it, nor had she been prepared for this Tom. How many more would she have to give birth to? She wondered tiredly. "It's not that bad…."

"Of course it isn't," he said clearly, "it's better than 'Leo', what possessed you to name him that anyway?"

"I'll tell you some other time," she said gently, not wanting to divulge the inspiration for his son's name. "I'm feeling rather tired again," despite saying this, she was reluctant to pass the baby back to Tom, who simply held the baby under her arms, and not protectively against his chest like he should have; Ginny resolved that she would have to show him how to hold a baby properly if she was to ever rest easily again.

"Sleep well, Ginevra…" she heard him say, and it was the last thing she heard before falling into a deep slumber.

* * *

A/N: OK, I am so, so sorry for the long wait, and all I could produce is this short thing, but it was meant to be longer, it's just that I wanted to keep the calmness separate from the manipulation and cunning that will hopefully be in the next chapter.

**Sapphire Crystal:** You will soon get the info on Ron and Hermione in the next chapter, and see how Ginny pushes her requests even further, but will Tom accommodate them? We'll have to wait and see….

**SailorHecate:** Of course he'll spoil her! He'll get her little frilly dresses and white bows for her dark red hair. Awww! I'm squealing just thinking about it!

**Blonde-gym-chick:** Nice way of putting it! And Ginny wasn't naturally manipulating, it sort of developed in the first story, if you remember, and I like that about her character too, it gives her immense power over Tom.

**Dracoandme:** You really hate Tom, don't you? Well, it is the point, but I'm trying to get you to sympathise with him here. Come on, guys, he was a poor little boy in an orphanage who just so happened to kill cute little bunny rabbits.

**Snow White Tan:** I wish there was such a thing as a 'snow white tan'. Anyway, it can be healthy, as long as you keep reviewing that is.

Thanks to all you other reviewers out there, I deeply appreciate them, so please keep reviewing, and, again, I am really, really sorry about the short chapter. So unprofessional….

* * *


	5. Daddy!

**LIFE AFTER DEATH**

**Part Five: "Daddy!".**

Ginny moved restlessly under the velvet covers, she was sweating profusely, and she could feel a headache coming on from all the worrying that she was experiencing. Where was Tom? Has he done something terrible? She wished Lizzy would cry, she wanted a distraction from all this worrying. The astronomical clock read Midnight, and Ginny threw the covers off herself, and began pacing the room. What if something had happened to Ron and Hermione? Would Tom believe them? Just then the sound of footsteps reached her ears, and she immediately recognised them as Tom's, the swiftness and purposefulness of every footfall was what had given him away.

She rushed back to bed, pretending that she did not know anything of where he had been, and sat up in bed as he entered the bedroom, his face completely unreadable. "Why are you awake at this time?" she heard him mutter.

"I was waiting for you to come to bed," she said gently, "did something at the meeting hold you back?" she questioned in a curious tone; hopefully he would not catch onto what she really wanted to know.

"Yes, as a matter of fact, Ginevra, something did hold me back," he replied, an air of coldness in his voice, "but, now is not the time to discuss such matters, it is, however, time for you and I to sleep."

She looked away from him to hide the disappointment in her eyes, and she lay back down angrily; she had stayed awake for nothing, and now she would not be able to sleep. "You are upset," she heard him say, "why?"

"I'm not tired," she replied, hoping he would get the message and tell her about Ron and Hermione.

"Ah," he smirked as he unbuttoned his shirt, "if you are not tired, then perhaps you could take off that rather irritating nightdress that you have insisted upon wearing; where did you get it from? I don't remember purchasing it."

"It was from when I was staying at Grimmauld Place," she whispered, trying to hide the hurt that she was feeling, it reminded her of Harry; still, she had feelings for him, she had lied to Tom about not liking his arch-nemesis any longer.

"Well, then, it will be destroyed," he laid next to her on his side, and leant over her, his hand on her full breast as he kissed her. "I guarantee that you'll be tired after this, sweet little Ginny."

"A-After what?" she said rather naively.

He chuckled, and unbuckled his belt. "What do you think, Princess?" he murmured close to her ear, his breath making her ear tingle. "I've had a stressful day, well, night, and I want you to soothe me like a good wife."

"Tom…" she said softly, putting on her act once more, "Lizzy could wake any moment…."

"Mmm, that's why we have a Nanny, Ginevra, that is what I'm paying the woman for, to look after the children," he replied simply to her very slight obstacle. "So, you see, we have plenty of time." He placed his hand on the hem of her nightdress, and muttered something under his breath, and the cotton started to burn.

Ginny began to scream until Tom covered her mouth withhis hand, and it wasn't until the burning reached her stomach did she realise that the fire was simply burning through the fabric. "Don't do that again! You scared me!" she said loudly, her heart racing.

He gave a low laugh, and pulled the covers over themselves. "Well, I didn't mean to frighten you, precious," he said huskily, the sheets completely covering them from head to toe. Ginny wasn't surprised at Tom for this weird thing, since she knew he was strange. "Will you unzip me, Ginny?" he said, his voice holding a commanding tone to it, instead of a questioning one.

"What?" she said, frowning slightly.

"I want you to unzip my trousers," he said in an almost aggravated tone.

"Oh…" she said quietly, and she fumbled around quickly, hidden under the darkness of the cover, thankfully, she thought, since she knew she was blushing furiously. And she was sure she had touched him where she ought not to a few times, and she was starting to get annoyed, where the hell was his goddamn zip? She gasped as she felt him take her hand, and felt even more embarrassed as she heard him chuckle quietly.

"There," he muttered, and Ginny could feel the metal of the zip as he let go of her hand. Why was she still embarrassed around him? It irked her. She finally got the zip down, and instantly moved her hand away, for fear of things she didn't even want to think about. "Come closer, little Red," he said in a low voice, "where I can feel you."

She obeyed him, and felt him slide an arm around her waist possessively, much like he would before she fell pregnant with Lizzy. A few weeks after she had given birth to Lizzy, things began to return to normal; an authoritave Tom, a fearing Ginny, yet Leo remained his usual self, generally being a nuisance in Tom's eyes, and constantly wanting to see the new baby.

"Tom, what if I become pregnant again?" she said softly.

"Well, then, I shall be pleased, but, I want you to myself for sometime, so, no, you shan't be having any children for now," he replied, his hand gliding upward to settle on the side of her breast. "Does that answer satisfy you?"

She smiled, truly happy, and Tom just stared down at her through the darkness. "Yes, it does," she replied.

"You are happy with my decision?"

"Yes," Ginny replied. "I also think we need to catch up a bit," she said, not wanting to come across as extremely happy about not bearing anymore of _his_ children, for the time being. Ginny pushed herself closer to him, her hand upon his chest, and her face turned up toward his. "See, we agree on something."

He scoffed, and reached down to kiss her. "Yes, you are quite right, Ginny, we finally agree on something…."

* * *

Tom tied up the bootlace quickly, and stood up, his cloak making a swooshing sound as he did so. He smirked as he looked over Ginny, lying on her stomach with the covers only hiding the lower part of her slim, but curvaceous figure. He had told her she would be tired after he took her, and look at her now, sleeping past her usual time of awakening. 

He could not hold back a chuckle at remembering the previous night; very playful she had been, very playful indeed…. Tom left the room then, a smile on his face as he walked down the corridor, when he heard light footsteps behind him. He span around swiftly, causing the person following him to gasp.

"What are you doing, boy?" he said coldly.

"Mama 'wake?" Leo said, his big brown eyes wide with childish innocence.

"No," Tom replied in the same tone. "Now, go back to your bedroom," he ordered.

"I bored," he announced, as he stepped closer to Tom. "Play with me," he demanded, his commanding expression much like Tom's, and he could not help but smirk. "Daddy play, now." Leo gripped onto Tom's leg.

"Get off me, boy!" Tom barked. "I am not… playing with you, go and amuse yourself, God knows you have plenty of toys."

Leo whined. "Toys boring! Daddy play with me," he insisted, "play now!"

"Boy, if you don't go away, I will cur-."

"Leo," he heard a soft voice call, "leave your Father alone." Tom looked up to see Ginny dressed in a different nightie, with a tired expression on her face, as she beckoned for Leo to come to her. Yet, she completely ignored Tom's gaze. "Come, Leo, don't you want to see Elizabeth?"

"Lissy 'wake?" he said distractedly, letting go of Tom's leg.

"Yes, she's awake, come," Ginny repeated.

"Uh… no!" Leo refused. "Daddy play, now! Mama, tell Daddy to play," he whined.

"If you call me that one more time, boy-."

"Tom, don't be horrible to him, he's only 3 years old," Ginny said, acknowledging his presence finally. She walked closer to him. "Will you just let him follow you around?" she whispered, looking up at him with her large brown eyes shining.

"Yes…" he replied, and when Ginny moved away from him, he snapped out of it. "Ginny, I'm sorting out important matters today, so if you need something, you'll have to wait, yes?" Ginny nodded. "Good…. Come, boy." Tom ordered, gesturing for Leo to follow him.

Once Tom had reached his study, with Leo jogging behind him, he sat down, and pulled out some parchment that had writing on it; they were details of – "What's that?"

"Parchment," Tom replied quickly, wanting the boy to shut up.

They were details of the two prisoners who were kept in the manor; Ron Weasley, and Hermione Granger. Only kept alive for Ginny's purpose, otherwise she would have gone mad, and he couldn't have a mad Empress. It had been very unexpected yesterday evening, when Nott had arrived with Hermione Granger, the Mudblood, at the meeting, claiming to have given into – "Why is there blue stuff on it?"

"So I know what this person wants to say to me," Tom answered in an irritable tone.

"I bored," he moaned again. "Play hide and seek."

"For fu-… yes… let's play hide and seek," Tom smirked. "Go and hide somewhere in the room, and I'll count to, oh, a million."

"Yay! You never find me," Leo said energetically, and he ran off somewhere.

Finally. The Mudblood had claimed to have given into the Dark, and was willing to receive the Dark Mark. Tom had laughed at first, and ordered for her to thrown back into her cell, but the girl persisted, and made claims that Ronald had the same feelings as she. That's when his mind began working into overdrive. If Ginny's brother became a follower, then that would be an achievement in itself; to have Potter's greatest friend turn against him. Not to mention, Tom would get a little more adoration from Ginny for letting her brother out.

But, he needed to think on it a bit more, what if they turned against him, and took Ginny away from him again? He put the parchment back into his drawer, and raised his hand, muttering a spell to locate the boy. Tom walked forward, and turned at the second opening of the bookcase, and found Leo pressed against the bookcase. "I found you," Tom said in a dull tone.

"Ohh…."

"Come, no more foolish games, boy," Tom pulled him by the shoulder to stand in front of him. "I shall have no more of your mindlessness, you can go back to your Mother."

"No!" he stamped his feet, clearly beginning to have a tantrum. "Daddy play," and he clung onto his leg again, with Tom feeling himself become angrier each second. "I tell Mummy off you!"

Tom laughed coldly. "You think I am afraid of your Mother?" Tom sneered down at the young boy. "You're Mother listens to me, boy, and she does anything I say. "Tom held onto Leo's shoulder and led him out into the corridor. "Now, go back to your Mother, this instant."

Tom watched Leo turn the corner, and disappear from his sight. Then he shut his study door, and walked in the opposite direction, toward the cells. It was time to test that temper of Ron Weasley's; he never forgot the last time he saw Ginny's brother, it was way back when he had first gotten Ginny back.

_The sound of rusty metal grating against the stone floor filled the damp dungeon with long forgotten sound. Tom stepped forward, his heel not making any sound as he walked forward. He sneered to himself as he remembered the night before, when Ginny had hidden under the bed, and she had given herself away by sniggering; he didn't know why she was being so tiresome, after all, he had offered her options, and she chose to come back to him. He grimaced as he heard the sound of a rat; horrid creatures…._

"_Cell number 22," he mumbled to himself, and he stopped in front of a tiny cell, dry hay in the corner, with one occupant, Ron Weasley. He looked broken and defeated on the floor of the slimy cell, his back to his sole visitor. Tom had come to question him about the whereabouts of the most prestigious Aurors, all though, Tom doubted that he knew anything. He made a disapproving tutting sound to grab the attention of Ginny's brother, and in one swift turning movement, Tom got exactly what he wanted._

"_You!" he said hoarsely. Tom presumed that there would have been more venom in his voice, had he spoken to someone in the past few weeks._

"_Is that any way to greet family, Mr. Weasley?" Tom said tauntingly, tutting once more disapprovingly._

"_What the fuck do you want?" He was on his feet now, and he looked nothing like the broken man from minutes before. He was the same height as Tom, and appeared to be physically stronger too, but, Tom observed, he was on the wrong side of the bars. "I want to see Ginny, you snake, what have you done to her?" he hissed, his voice still croaky._

"_Ah, Ginny…. I haven't done a thing to her, she is quite alright," he replied with a smug smirk. "And I wouldn't let her see you when you are… unworthy of her presence."_

_Ron shouted with pure rage, and Tom had not even noticed that he had ran forward, until his hand came shooting through the bars, aiming to wrap around Tom's throat. He missed by a millimetre. "What a joke, you are, Mr. Weasley!" Tom laughed coldly. "Thinking you can harm me with your filthy muggle-loving hands, when I have all the power in the world," Tom finished in a dangerous hiss._

"_You're forgetting that Ginny has "filthy muggle-loving hands", and I'd rather be a joke, than a rapist," Ron sneered viciously, retracting his hand, and moving backward, his face twisted into a look of pure hatred. "That's all you are, a dirty rapist!"_

"_Say that again, and I'll-."_

"_You're a fucking rapist!"_

_Tom's hand flew upward, and the next thing Ron knew was that he was on the floor, feeling immense pain rushing through him. The Cruciatus…. "She loves me!" Tom screamed over Ron's yells. "You took her from me, and she came back willingly!"_

_Ron managed to laugh through the pain, which infuriated Tom even more. _

"_She... ahh… fucking hates you!" Ron shouted, and suddenly, it stopped._

"_You'll never understand, Weasley," Tom whispered in a deadly tone. "Ginny belongs to me, it's as simple as that."_

"_No… she hates you, she doesn't belong to anyone," Ron said quietly. "Want to know what she told me? She told me she used to wish she was dead whenever you touched her, she told me that she made you believe every word she would say, every single word, and, this takes the cake, she told me you actually believed it when she said she missed you.!" Ron was laughing almost hysterically at this point, and it took a lot of control for Tom stop himself from killing him right there and then._

"_I hope you enjoy laughing for another month or so, because it'll be the only other sound you'll hear apart from the rats!"_

Tom smirked to himself in the present, he had stormed out of the Malfoy Dungeons, and Apparated back to his manor. That was when he had made the decision to keep Ginny from seeing Leo until she started behaving. Now, after three years, he was going to see whether this temperamental man could withstand Tom's annoyances, and truly see whether the Mudblood's claim had any truth to it.

* * *

"Mummy!" Ginny heard a whining voice out in the hallway. She stood away from Lizzy's crib, and walked over to the door, to find Leo running awkwardly toward her. "Mama," he said grumpily, a frown much like Tom's on his face. "Daddy not play with me." 

"Never mind, darling, your Father is very busy," Ginny reassured, as she took the small boy's hand, and led him into the adjoining Nursery. "Maybe you can play with him another time," she almost scoffed at her own words, and felt guilty for lying. "But, don't be sulky, baby, Lizzy is awake, now, and she wants to say hello."

"Lissy… she a littler baby," Leo announced as he peered over the edge of the crib. "I hold Lissy," he said quietly.

"No, not yet, darling, you're too young , and you might drop her," Ginny said soothingly, "and she might cry if you drop her, you don't want her to be upset, do you?"

"No, but Lissy not cry a lot," he muttered, shaking his head from side to side for added emphasis.

"That's because she is a good girl," Ginny stroked the baby's cheek, and watched as Leo reached out to touch her hand, but tentatively so, as though he thought she could break at the slightest movements. "Where did your Father take you?"

"A room with table, and loads and loads of books, I hide behind one and Daddy took forever to find me!" he replied enthusiastically.

Ginny smiled at the thought of Tom playing Hide and Seek. "What did he do?"

"Read," he said simply.

"A book?"

"No, a p-parshmemt."

"Parchment?" Leo nodded and returned to looking at the peaceful baby girl. Ginny wondered if that had anything to do with the plan… still she was being forced to wait for information of the outcome of last nights meeting, not that he ever told her anything about the meetings, but since Hermione and Ron concerned her, then surely he would have to tell her. Eventually….

* * *

**Sapphire Crystal:** As you are blessed with essay writing skills, which probably helps a lot more, one of us is burdened with not so great essay writing skills. :D Me, of course. Tom likes her pregnant because it is like she has to depend on him more than when she is not pregnant. And, don't worry, the "one-sided" thing may be resolved, if the story goes that way. 

**SailorHecate:** I love questions, as long as I can answer them properly. Tom being a good father? Hmmm, I think this chapter confirms that answer. But, what do you expect? Tom never had a Father to model his own behaviour toward his kid on. I'm not sure what you mean about your 2nd question. He doesn't dislike Leo, it is just that he wants him to stop acting, well, childish, since Tom doesn't really grasp this parenting thing too well, it's a good thing Ginny's there!

**Kusakabe Maron:** Can you send me the pic again? Also send me the URL for your website again. Sorry about that.

**Nyah1:** I really loved your review for some reason. And I am still in the dark as to whether I can make it a happy ending, since I've got about five potential ways of ending it.

**A/N:** Well, I am back again from that dreaded writer's block. And it seems as though this story is going to be longer than I actually planned it to be, what with Hermione's little plan coming into effect, how will Ginny cope with being kept in the dark, and will Ron manage to hold his temper? I am asking for **10 Reviews** now, people, since that attack of writers block might infect me again, I need more ammo to defend myself. LOL.

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* * *


	6. Freedom?

**LIFE AFTER DEATH**

**Part Six: Freedom?**

Ginny found herself feeling impatient for the second time that week, and, once again, it was all Tom's fault; why did he have to go around smirking like that, like he knew something she didn't? Smarmy git, she thought rebelliously, and he has another thing coming if he thinks I'm going to let him shag me tonight without any word of what he's up to. She decided to be straight with him, she would simply ask him why he was smirking like that. He had been doing it since the afternoon, when he had disappeared for a couple of hours, she was going to ask him at dinner, but thought it best to wait for when Leo was in bed.

Sighing, she went and checked on Elizabeth, who was simply sleeping soundly, Ginny looked around furtively and poked the baby gently, which did nothing, so she poked her just a little harder, and she woke with a wail. "Aww, shh, shh," Ginny soothed, feeling a little bit guilty as she picked her up, "Mummy's here…and you've given me good reason to be up," she added. She went back into the main bedroom, and rocked Elizabeth gently until Tom came in, still with that triumphant smirk on his face. He had a piece of folded parchment in his hand, she noticed, as he walked toward her.

He reached up, and pulled the blanket covering Elizabeth away slightly. "Still as beautiful as I left her," he muttered. And he walked away after that, placing the parchment down on his bedside table as he unclasped his cloak, he laid on the bed, his arms behind his head as he watched Ginny, still with that irritating smirk, only stopping when she went to place the baby back into her crib.

"So," Ginny said as she returned. "Are you going to let me in on your secret?"

"I have many secrets, Ginny, so I can't think what one you wish to know," he said in a smug voice.

"The one that has had you grinning to yourself for the past 10 hours," she replied in an obvious tone.

"Oh, I was wondering when you would notice that," he said as he shut his eyes slowly, with a mysterious smile on his face. "I suppose you have the right to know, so I'll let you in the little secret; read the parchment beside me, and that should explain everything clearly."

Ginny almost ran to his bedside table, snatching up the parchment with excitement. One look at it, and it seemed to be a contract of sorts, it read;

_I hereby declare absolute loyalty to the Dark Lord Voldemort, by breaking this loyalty in any way will result in punishment of death, and in anything that follows death. All loyalties to Harry Potter, and the Order of the Phoenix, will be destroyed, and broken upon the acceptance of the Dark Mark. Thereby, I henceforth accept the Dark Lord Voldemort as my one and only true Master; I will obey the Dark Lord Voldemort whatever he commands, I will not lie to my Master, and I will not try to overthrow him._

_I accept that any breach of this Unbreakable Contract will result in death or a lifetime in a cell with no way of knowing about the outside world._

_Signed:_

**_Ronald Bilius Weasley Hermione Jane Granger_**

Ginny looked up to find Tom had been watching the whole time she read. "I-I can't believe this… no… this is a joke, isn't it?" she said incredulously, and she wasn't acting; she knew what they planned to do, but they had signed this contract, a contract that would forbid them disobeying whatever Tom asked of them, what if he asked them to kill? How could they build up a resistance when they couldn't be disloyal to him in any way, shape or form?

"Oh, it's no joke, my sweet, I have two new Death Eaters with great potential," he replied. "This is good for you, now you can see them whenever you like, and I think this is a very generous offer for me to give, surely you can see the benefits?"

"…Yes, I'm just shocked, that's all…" she said quietly. "But, Hermione's muggle-born, why would you let her join the Death Eaters?"

"Ginny, she is clever, _very_ clever, I could use her when needs be," he explained, "most of my Death Eaters are half-bloods, those who embrace magic as the dominant force are welcome, those who don't can die."

"But, they could die…" Ginny said almost inaudibly.

"Not if they remain loyal to me, Ginevra," Tom said pointedly. "No more worrying now; they were very accepting of this agreement, Ginny, and you should be too." He stood up, and pulled his jacket off. "And I've given them a place to stay, Ginny, their very own humble abode," he said sarcastically, "and that is all. End of the matter," he muttered in a finishing tone. He picked the parchment from her grasp, and walked toward the door with it.

"Where are you going?" Ginny called out as he opened the door.

"Somewhere that doesn't concern you, my sweet," he said with a grin, then added as an afterthought, "wait up for me, I shan't be long."

Ginny knew what was on his mind, as she had predicted earlier. All men are the same, she thought, even evil overlords. She called a House Elf to help her untie her dress, and then put on a black silk babydoll. This is going to be fun, she thought, and she ran into the bathroom with a laugh.

Tom returned to find Ginny nowhere in sight, he unbuttoned his shirt, checking under the bed as he did so. "I thought these tiresome games were finished with, Ginny," he called out, "or perhaps," he said to himself, "she thinks its fun for me to chase her around." Which I am not going to do, he decided, and he sat on the bed and waited. Waited and waited, until the sound of the bathroom door clicked open.

"You're no fun," he heard Ginny say, "I wanted you to find me. Oh, well, I guess I'll just have to wear this all night." And Tom looked up, the desired effect, to see her standing in the black nightie he had bought her ages ago, yet she had refused to wear it at all, and now… he suddenly felt like a predator staring longingly at its prey.

"Maybe I will play your silly game after all," he said standing up, and walking toward her, when he held her by the waist, he muttered in her ear, "or maybe I won't." He pulled her closer to him, and kissed her. "You look like a Dark witch," he said in a low voice before he went to place kisses on her neck.

"I wouldn't say that if I were you," she replied, equally quiet, "you might start putting ideas into my head." He chuckled, and took Ginny by the hand, leading her out to the balcony. "Why are you taking me out here?"

"I thought it would be a good time for a change…" he murmured, pressing Ginny against the wall with a very lusty smirk.

* * *

Ginny awoke to cool rays of sunshine on her face, when she turned to her side; she saw that Tom was still there for once, it was very rare for him to stay in bed for long. But, she saw, he was awake anyway. She remained still for a while, contemplating what her options were now that Ron and Hermione were 'incapacitated', she wondered if they still _wanted_ to be free of the man beside her. Perhaps she should go to see them, try and work around this contract. Ginny sighed inwardly; _time to be affectionate…._

Ginny shifted toward him, and snuggled closer. "What are you doing?" she heard him say in a hoarse voice.

"Lying next to you," she replied quietly, "don't you want me to?" He didn't answer, choosing to remain silent as he lifted her face up to kiss her, triumphing wordlessly at how well he had tamed her. Ginny waited patiently for him to finish kissing her. "Tom? How are Ron and Hermione bound to the contract?"

She heard him laugh at this. "Very complicated magic, Ginny, much like an Unbreakable Vow, but completely different, this is tangible magic," he explained. "But, I shall not give you any other information, princess." Ginny could just see the smirk on his face from the corner of her eye, much to her dismay.

"If it's tangible, won't that make it easier to destroy?"

"Maybe, maybe not," he replied in a vague, and teasing manner.

Ginny frowned a little, out of his view. She needed to know about that stupid contract… well, she thought, who knows everything there is to know? Someone who she could see whenever she liked, so Tom had said. "Can I go and see them today?" she questioned in a sweet voice, turning her eyes toward him.

He looked down at her, and it seemed he was swayed again by her little affections. "I'm afraid that is impossible," he replied, and Ginny was rather surprised that he was refusing her. "They are undergoing some intense training, and tests, I don't just let anyone become a Death Eater."

Ginny looked doubtfully at him. "Crabbe, and Goyle? They are the dumbest people on the Earth; they could never pass _any_ test, no matter what it was."

"Ah, yes, but I don't just require intelligent people, Ginny, I require people who are easily led too, and a bit of muscle goes a long way. Crabbe, and Goyle fit those last two preferences."

"What kind of tests?" Ginny said, prying further.

"They don't concern you, so you need not worry about them," he answered in an almost aggravated tone. "No more questions, they –." But the next part of his sentence was drowned out as loud wailing coming from the baby's nursery cut him short.

Ginny stood up on the bed, and jumped off the end in a hurry to get to the crying Elizabeth, she hated when babies cried for too long. Tom watched as she hurried away, desperate to get to the needy child. Sometimes, when Ginny was asleep, he'd go into the nursery, and look down at Elizabeth, sometimes he'd hold her hand, and give her some of his magic to her, since he hadn't found a spell that could accelerate her learning. He couldn't pass too much of his magic into her, otherwise she would die. The crying had stopped, and he decided to get out of bed, and have a wash.

Ginny came back into the bedroom, smiling widely, as she had just had a thought whilst attending to the baby; Hermione and Ron couldn't disobey Tom, but she could… and all she had to do was find out how to make the contract null. She found Tom in the bathroom, washing his face, she had to remain affectionate, to make sure he wouldn't find out about her plan, so he wouldn't suspect foul play.

* * *

Ginny searched and searched over the next few weeks, though it was a search in vain, there were no books on the subject at all; she supposed that the spell was of his own making, but she had read a passage explaining binding spells, and it suggested that objects creating a bond, like a wedding ring, needed to be destroyed, or the maker of the spell needed to be destroyed. How could she destroy something she couldn't find? Yet, she didn't even contemplate killing Tom. Ginny desperately needed Hermione to help her, but she couldn't, and now she was just getting immensely frustrated. 

Then she had an idea.

* * *

"Leo," Ginny called as she stepped into five year old's bedroom, it was very tidy, and well-kept, due to the excellent service of the House-Elves. "Leo," she called again. 

"Mummy, here," she heard his voice coming from the other side of the bed, when she looked around, she saw he was playing with one of his toy broomsticks. She sat down with him, and pulled him onto her lap.

"You're getting big now, aren't you?" she said softly, and he nodded happily, at being called 'big'. "I remember when you were just a baby, like Lizzy."

"I look after Lissy," he said.

"Yes, but you can only look after her properly if you listen to what Daddy tells you," she said in a gentle manner, feeling sad at having to use Leo to get to the Contract, but it was for the best.

"Daddy don't like me," Leo replied quietly.

"Of course he does, darling," Ginny assured, "you just have to listen to him, he wants to teach you things, things that you'll need to look after Lizzy. Lizzy will be very happy knowing that she has you protecting her, won't she?"

"Yes," he answered. "Will Daddy play with me if I listen?"

Ginny laughed. "Maybe," she kissed his head, and set him back down. "I'll tell Daddy that you are ready, OK? We'll see if he isn't busy tomorrow. And I'll come and read you a bedtime story later, OK?"

"OK," he echoed.

* * *

**Studiofreek:** Now, Ginny has got Leo in on the manipulation, but we'll have to wait and see how she is going to use him. 

**Kitty Grenwood:** Thanks for your compliments. I was a bit puzzled on the 'exciting' thing, because I don't think the story is very fast-paced. Oh, well.

**Sapphire Crystal: **There may be a death… or two. But, I'm not suggesting anything yet.

**Slythery: **Thanks for your review. I always thought my language was quite dull in retrospect.

**Gnomy123: **If I wrote He Who Must Not Be Named continuously, I'd get annoyed with the story, plus I like the name Tom. Love plays an important part in the plot, and it'll play an important part in the ending too.

I want at least **10 REVIEWS **, thank you.

* * *


	7. Dreams

**LIFE AFTER DEATH**

**Part Seven: Dreams.**

_He could hear crying, a slight sobbing, not that of a baby, but of an adult. It sounded familiar, he knew. "Tom," he heard the sobbing voice say, "find her, please, I can't bear her being away from me…!" It was Ginny, he noticed, her redhead bowed, her hands holding her face._

"_Shh, don't worry," he heard himself say, "I'll find her, everything will be fine, darling." He knew something terrible had happened, something in the back of his mind was telling him so. _

"_It's m-my fault, Tom, p-please forgive me," he heard her say in a desperate voice._

"_How can it be your fault?" he said in a low voice, pulling her to him, and lifting her tear-stained face up to look at her. "It isn't your fault," he said in a finishing tone. "They wouldn't harm her, Ginny, I know they won't, just trust me."_

"_I want her back…" she whispered, sniffing, and she held onto him desperately. "I love her so much, Tom." _

Tom woke up then, and found Ginny sitting up beside him, with baby Elizabeth in her arms; she was feeding her, a peaceful smile on her face as she looked down at her daughter adoringly. "I didn't hear her cry," he said in a tired voice, having just woken up.

His voice made her turn her attention to him. "That's because you were probably snoring too loud to hear anything else," she replied.

"I don't snore," he stated, lifting his hand to rest on Elizabeth's head.

"How would you know? You are asleep when you do it," she pointed out, returning her attention back to the suckling baby with a wider smile on her face. "I'm only joking," she said upon noticing his sturdy frown, "you don't snore… that much."

"I'm not rising to the bait, Ginny," he said in a sure tone as he sat up, and looked over Elizabeth, her eyes were shut, as if she were sleeping. "I wonder," he began with a smirk on his face, "how you taste, Ginny. Flavoured? Sweet? I'd rather enjoy the latter…" he nibbled on her earlobe, whispering things of no importance at all.

"Tom… the baby…."

"I know she is there," he murmured, "can't I simply kiss you?"

"She's done, now," Ginny said quietly in response as she pulled up the strap of her nightdress, and shifted off the bed to place Elizabeth back in her crib to sleep again. When she came back, Tom had lain down once more, seemingly waiting for her to return to bed with him. Sighing inwardly, she slipped under the covers, and was met with Tom's insistent lips on her own. Deciding to give in on the principle that she needed to keep him sweet today, she responded readily, threading her fingers through his hair, and laying her other hand on his back, moaning in all the right places when he reached certain parts on her neck, though some of his kisses, she indignantly thought, were _really_ just in the right place…. But, it was not to be, as the sound of a knock brought Tom back to reality, and in a state of aggravation, he stormed to the door and flung it open; it was a House Elf, who no longer Apparated into his Master's quarters having had to iron his fingers the last time he did.

"What?" Tom said impatiently.

"Mr. Lucius Malfoy is coming to see sir, he is waiting for sir downstairs," the House Elf replied in a quivering tone.

Tom sighed, and looked back at Ginny lying in bed, he had had a feeling he was going to have extra fun with her and now it was bloody well ruined. "Yes, yes," he said in an irritated voice, waving his hand to signal for the House Elf's dismissal, "tell him to wait longer." He shut the door, and leant over Ginny, stroking her face longingly.

"Important matters that need your expert seeing to, I suppose?" she said, her voice soft, and perhaps sympathetic to his aggravation. "There is always tonight, Tom."

"Not if I'm needed elsewhere, my sweet," he said, turning away from her to dress, and to stop himself from taking her right then, like he had originally planned. When he had finished dressing he finally faced her. "Maybe tonight," he smirked as he took her hand to kiss it.

"Have fun," she called as he left the room.

* * *

Ginny stayed lying in bed, wondering what Lucius Malfoy wanted at such an early time in the morning; perhaps it was something to do with Ron and Hermione, had the betrayed Tom, unwittingly? Then she thought, no, Hermione was not an unwitting person, and she would have told Ron what they shouldn't do. She snuggled deeper into the covers, and pillows, and fell back to sleep. 

_She wandered through the long corridors, the darkness enveloping her as she cried silently. It seemed like that was all she ever did now. Then she came to the bedroom, to find an angry-looking Tom pacing in a furious manner in front of the fireplace, and there was a warming blaze in its hearth. "I won't fail, Ginny," he said in a determined voice as he turned to look at her, "I'm not giving up."_

"_I know," she replied. "I miss her, Tom." He stared into the blazing flames of the fire; his arm resting on the mantelpiece, holding his head in is hand. Ginny had never seen Tom looking so distressed as he was now, and she reached out for him, she needed him to comfort her, to tell her everything would be OK. "I can't stand it anymore," she said in an upset voice, as she wrapped her arms around him._

"_It'll be over soon, I promise," he said quietly. "Just let me deal with it now, you need to stop getting depressed, Ginny, it isn't good. Do you understand?"_

"_I understand, Tom," she answered. "It's just… I miss her so, and what if she wants me? I can't go to her…." A new flood of tears washed over her cheeks._

_She felt him hold her closer. "I'll make them pay, whoever has done this, Ginny, they'll pay…."_

"_Mummy," a voice called. "Mummy?"_

"Mummy, wake up, please!"

Ginny opened her eyes slowly, it didn't feel like she had been asleep for that long, and she saw Leo standing beside her, waiting with the utmost impatience. Like father, like son, her mind whispered. "Yes, baby?" she said softly, reaching a hand up to stroke his rosy cheek.

"Is Daddy going to teach me today?" he said in an earnest tone, as though he eagerly wanted to please.

Ginny pulled him up onto the bed as she sat up. "I haven't asked him yet, he's busy right now," Ginny explained, "and he might have to go away for today, but don't worry, darling, there is plenty of time."

Leo sat there for a while, not saying anything as his mother hugged him like she did frequently. "Can I see Lissy?"

Ginny smiled down at him, placing him back on the floor. "Go on then, make sure you don't wake her. Be extra special careful, OK?" Leo nodded in response. "And don't pick her up." Ginny rested her head against the bed frame, but determined not to fall asleep, and leaving Leo practically alone with the baby. She lifted her head when she heard the bedroom door open to see Tom walking in, with his stormy face intact.

She got up from the bed, and walked toward him. "What did Malfoy want?"

He sighed. "I'll tell you later," he replied, "maybe." Tom pulled her to him, and stroked her hair from her face. "It seems that I shall have to wait until tomorrow," he said in a disappointed manner. "I'm not going away, but I'll probably be back late." Ginny had sudden ideas of all she could do without Tom there; she could sneak into his study and sift through his things, perhaps even find that contract…. He kissed her neck, taking in her scent as he did so.

She reached up to lay her hand on his head. "Oh, Tom…" she murmured, her eyes closed, "one day, there won't be any problems for you and I."

He scoffed, kissing her head. "I hope that will be so."

"Are you leaving right now?" Ginny questioned.

"Yes, I just came up to tell you I'd be going," he replied, kissing her once again, before he turned to leave. Ginny sighed, touching her neck where he had kissed her, and she shook herself back to reality as quickly as possible. He must be slipping some weak love potion into her drinks or foods, but only slight doses… she wouldn't put it past him.

* * *

"When did this happen?" Tom said in a low, and dark voice, as he looked over the remains of the Riddle House. It didn't mean much to him, but it disturbed him, perhaps it had just collapsed, or… had someone deliberately destroyed it, did someone know about him? He was sure that everyone was dead. 

"A few days ago, my Lord," Lucius Malfoy answered.

"How did you come upon this information?" Tom questioned curiously. "How did you find out about it falling down?"

"Gossip, my Lord," he replied. "My wife is a fervent gossip."

"Gossip…" Tom muttered. "Can lead to one's downfall, or even their success," he mused. "I want it searched."

"I've already had that done for you, my Lord," Lucius said, and he reached into his pocket, taking out a piece of worn, and folded parchment. "I haven't read it," Lucius added as he handed it over.

Tom cocked an eyebrow at this statement, but took the parchment, and unfolded it carefully. It was a letter, he saw, and he decided not to read any further until he got home, to his study, where he could contemplate over whatever it said for hours and hours. He folded it back up, and slotted it into his trouser pocket. "Do you think it was a deliberate attack, Lucius?"

"I can't be sure, my Lord," he replied, "not without reading the note."

"Yes, that is what I shall do." Tom walked forward, stepping on the overturned path, and remembered the last time he was here. The last time he had walked over that path, he had left three dead bodies behind him, and a great feeling of satisfaction had filled him like he had never felt before. He was just 16 then. Now he was capable of mass murder. That was when he remembered Ginny; it was strange remembering a time that Ginny wasn't in.

He wanted to go, the place was making him aggravated, just looking at the ruins filled him with anger. Bastard, his mind sneered.

* * *

Ginny was sitting on the couch in the lounge, annoyed at finding his study door locked. She had been foiled so easily, and she knew that she would end up having to use her baby boy to betray his father. She didn't want to involve Leo, but it would be better for him, he was already feeling the effects of Tom's neglect, and this plan of hers could work both ways; Ginny would get the Contract, and Leo would be able to spend time with Tom. 

She glanced at the clock on the mantelpiece, it was midnight now, and she decided that there wasn't really any point in staying up to find out what had happened, she could wait until tomorrow, so she went back upstairs, and reluctantly gave into sleep once more….

_Ginny could hear shouting as she stepped over dark shapes on the floor of the familiar hallway. What had happened? What WAS happening? She picked up the pace, but not so much as to alert anyone of her presence. The shouting she realised, where spells… someone was having a duel._

_"Ron!" she heard a scream. "Stop it, you can't win!"_

_"Shut up, Hermione," presumably Ron held back._

_Ginny could hear laughter as the two voices finished arguing with each other. "You won't have any chance at winning with her mouth opening," another voice intercepted. "Silencio, temporary silence, or an Avada, a permanent silence… which shall I give her, Mr. Weasley?"_

_"Shut up," Ron said loudly, in angry tone. "Shut up!" And the sound of a rebounding spell hitting a wall resonated throughout the house, and Ginny gasped, and leapt out of the way as a piece of ceiling fell within two inches of her head, and hit the floor with a deafening BANG!_

_"Very good, Mr. Weasley!" the other voice said in a patronising voice. "You almost had me then." Sniggers followed the last sentence. "Now, enough," the voice said seriously, and Ginny was getting closer to the commotion, "enough of these childish spells, Mr. Weasley, let's test your ability to give me a hard time…."_

_"I know Dark Magic," she heard Ron say._

_"Yes, I'm sure you do, Mr. Weasley, I'm sure you do…. But, can you block this?" A loud bang, and a dull thudding sound coupled with the sound of the house crumbling. "I thought not…" the voice chuckled._

_Then she heard Ron shout something, a spell?_

_"Ron! No!"_

* * *

Tom sat at his desk in his study, now he would read the letter, and decide his next course of action. He unfolded the letter slowly, but without fear, no, he didn't fear anything. 

_T. M. Riddle, it read,_

_I'm sure I have your attention now that you have found something from your very well covered up past in ruins. I suppose we should talk about what else I know, shouldn't we? The great Lord Voldemort, who grew up as a pathetic Muggle boy, abandoned by his father, and his mother, who couldn't even be bothered to live for him. How tragic. But, don't worry, I am not so "pure" myself, I must admit._

_I also know about your wife, lovely little Ginevra, oh yes, I know many things about your wife. Do you ever wonder whether she is truly loyal to you? Because I know the answer. Do you ever wonder whether those very, very complicated wards you set-up will protect your dear Ginny? Again, I know the answer. Sweet Ginny, she is so dear to you, so dear that she is that one big weakness that you just can't be rid of._

_And the little boy, I'd keep a close eye on him if I were you, Mr. Riddle…._

Tom stood up so violently that his chair whacked the ground with such force, the wooden back split. He almost screwed up the parchment and threw it into the fire, but stopped himself, and realised that he needed to keep it, to remind himself that the War wasn't over yet, there were still people out there trying to get to him, trying to get to Ginny….

* * *

**A/N: **In the next chapter, Tom contemplates the meaning of the letter, Leo has his first lesson, and Ginny gets to visit Ron and Hermione…. Dreams will start to become an important factor now, throughout the fic, but I'll probably keep them limited. 

**Sapphire Crystal:** The smiles aren't genuine, but sometimes they are, Ginny is so manipulative you won't know whether she is truly smiling at him or not unless I indicated she was doing so. Thanks for your review.

Thanks for all your reviews, I really appreciate them, even if you've got something bad to say. Anyway, hoped you enjoyed the chapter, please show appreciation by clicking on that little button on the left labelled "Go". :D

* * *


	8. Bonds

**LIFE AFTER DEATH**

**Part Eight: Bonds.**

Ginny smiled as she watched Leo playing by the large lake on the grounds of the manor; he had a small net, and was trying to coax some fish into it, but failing miserably, yet this didn't stop him. She was sitting on a conveniently placed bench by the waters edge, with Elizabeth in her arms. "Leo!" Ginny cried out suddenly, as he almost fell into the water, "be careful," she breathed out in a relieved voice to see him unfazed by the shock that he had given her.

When she had woken up that morning, she could see that Tom was distracted by something, and she supposed it must be something to do with Lucius Malfoy's visit the day before. Ginny hadn't pressed on the matter, and decided to wait until Tom told her; that's _if_ he ever would.

"Mummy, look!" she heard Leo call out, and she looked up to see him holding his net triumphantly. "Fishy!"

"Well done, baby," she said appraisingly, and Leo smiled widely at this praise.

"Yes, very well done, indeed." Ginny turned quickly to see Tom standing some metres away, his hands in his trouser pockets as he looked at his son. And how Leo swelled with happiness at that.

"You have to let him back in the water now, Leo," Ginny told him gently.

"Why?"

"Because he'll die if you keep him out of water for too long," she explained, feeling a bit sorry for him, to see him dump the fish back into the Lake, with an "ohh". All the same, Leo continued to look for more, further along the bank.

"I see the boy has finally achieved something," Tom muttered, as he stood beside Ginny.

"He has many years to achieve things," Ginny said with a frown. "Why can't you be nice to him?"

He looked down at her, his face giving away no emotion whatsoever, yet Ginny still searched for something, something to explain why he was like that. "I'm not nasty to him," he replied, "how am I supposed to be either to him, when I can't understand a word he says?"

"You could at least spend time with him," Ginny said quietly, turning away from Tom to look down at Elizabeth, who had made a slight noise in her slumber. "He wants to, he wants to spend time with you, Tom," she looked back up at him, reaching up to touch his arm. "He thinks that you don't like him," she said in a low voice, "that's not nice for a little boy."

"What am I supposed to do?" Tom said in an aggravated voice. "Well? Tell me, Ginevra."

"Teach him magic," she replied, "but don't shout at him, he is very young, and he'll find it hard to understand things. Please."

"He doesn't want to, Ginevra, you said it yourself," Tom muttered. "All he wants to do is mess about."

"That's because he is a child," she explained, "just don't be so… serious about everything. Just teach him small things at first, things he'll find easy to understand. Well," she smiled, "he needs to actually learn how to write." Ginny glanced back at Leo, and smiled to see the small frown forming on his head as he began to grow impatient. "You have to admit, he can be determined, and he does lose his temper rather quickly, not unlike some people I know," she smiled teasingly.

"We'll try it for a week, and if doesn't make any progress whatsoever, then it'll be left at that," Tom said firmly. "I can't afford to waste time now…."

Ginny looked back up at him with a curious expression. "Why not?"

He stared down at her, the words of the letter racing though his mind, the words about the wards, his impeccable wards, or was they impeccable? He sighed, knowing he couldn't let some cheap attempt at riling him up get to him. "Not now, Ginny," he said quietly. "I can't tell you right now."

Ginny stood up, knowing now was probably the appropriate time to appear concerned, she couldn't let him get suspicious of her, or wonder whether she wasn't as loyal as he thought she was. However, what she didn't know was that Tom had already been thinking this some hours ago, that was why he had come outside, he wanted to get some reassurance from her, to falsify the letters' assumption. And he was going to get just that.

She tiptoed to kiss him on the lips. "It'll be all right," she said softly. "Whatever it is, you'll sort it out, you always do," she looked down at Elizabeth, who had awoken at the sound of her parents' voices, and was now playing with her mothers long wavy hair. Ginny then smiled up at him. "You aren't going away again tonight, are you?"

He stared down at her for a moment, and then smirked. "No, my princess, nothing shall distract me away from you, not tonight…."

"I certainly hope not," she said in a low voice, before he bent to kiss her. "Did you want to tell me something? Is that why you came outside?" Ginny questioned when he had finished kissing her.

"Yes, I did, as a matter of fact," he replied. "I came to tell you that you can visit your brother tomorrow, it seems that some training was not necessary in the end."

"Why?"

"Because they knew most of it anyway," he shrugged, "and your brother, he isn't as innocent as we thought – he knows some very basic Dark magic, Ginny."

"Yes, I know," she said offhandedly.

Tom smirked again, and kissed Ginny once more before he left her, and returned inside to mull over that letter again. What could the writer possibly mean by Ginny? How did he know anything about Ginny? Perhaps Dumbledore… but, no, he had killed him himself, so it was impossible…. He didn't care about what the writer knew about him, Tom just wanted Ginny left alone; Ginny was all he really cared about, her and his children. That's what irked him even more, the part about keeping an eye on Leo.

All this wasteful thinking was getting him nowhere, and Tom couldn't wait for the night to come, since he could just forget about this letter for a while. Sometimes he wondered whether Ginny was just acting, playing a part of dutiful mother and obedient wife. She hadn't wanted to come back with him, he remembered, she only came back to save her brother, and her mudblood friend. He wondered whether she really did love him; it was logical that she should love him, because he was the father of her children, but Tom knew that he was not very smart on the subject of love.

If he hadn't been nasty to her in the beginning, then maybe things would have been different. Tom shook his head, and told himself that it didn't matter whether she was acting or not, because he knew he would keep her either way.

Tom knew that Ginny was his weakness, and he resented her once before for this, but now he didn't care, because he knew he could keep her safe. He _hoped_ he could keep her safe.

* * *

The sound of dripping was an evident sound in the steamy room; it was full of vials of different coloured substances; some friendly, and some deadly. The occupant of this room had become a recluse, not that he had really ever welcomed company before, but now he was entirely on his own. He was forgotten. Yet, this gave him an advantage. An advantage at revenge, a chance to live life freely without the feeling of penitence.

Now, all his life consisted of was avenging himself, for he had the power to do as he pleased. Ever since he had become forgotten, he really could do as he pleased. No one watched his movements, no one sent him letters, and this was because no one wanted to be associated with a traitor.

All he had were his vials of different coloured substances; some friendly, and some deadly. That, and ink and parchment.

* * *

Ginny gave a satisfied smile as Tom stroked her hair; she was laying atop him at his request from earlier on, and Ginny had to admit, with a certain amount of irritation, that it had been good. Sometimes she forgot how strong Tom was, due to his slender figure, so when he did show his strength, it always surprised her, just like he had done so earlier on. With her head resting upon his chest, she could feel his equally unsteady heartbeat, and she wondered if he could feel hers, not that it mattered much.

And so, they laid there in silence. Tom absentmindedly stroking Ginny's head, and Ginny beginning to kiss his chest lazily, without knowing why.

"You want to go, again?" he drawled.

She looked up at him, her eyebrow raised. "That sounds _so_ romantic," she answered sarcastically.

He chuckled, and grinned down at her. "Would you like it if I asked again, rephrasing it to your taste?"

"Yes," she replied, "that is no way to ask a Lady."

"As you wish," he murmured. She gasped as he grabbed her waist, and rolled over, with her legs still parted. He pushed himself away from her as he leant on his arm, only to lean back in to kiss her neck. Ginny sighed, and placed a hand on his back. "Would the lovely Lady object to my making love to her again?" he said in a husky voice, as he caressed her breast.

"That's better," she whispered. "And, no, I wouldn't object."

"Thank Merlin…" he mumbled, and he pushed inside her for the second time that night, and Tom couldn't believe his luck at finding Ginny so willing, and ready. There she was, sighing his name over and over, crying out with joy, and moving perfectly with him. He could do this to her all night….

Ginny couldn't believe she was letting him do this to her for a second time. Usually she pretended she was tired, and sometimes she didn't even have to pretend. But, her mind whispered, she liked it. She liked every second of it.

"Kiss me," she pleaded suddenly, and her needs were met with swiftly, as Tom's lips met hers with ferocity. She gripped his shoulder, her nails digging into his skin, as her other ran up his chest, and around his neck to settle on the back of his head, her fingers tangling themselves in his short black locks. "Oh, Tommy…" she moaned as he pushed deeper, "you feel wonderful…."

He continued to kiss her in reply, those words making him want to be inside her as much as possible. And, had she called him 'Tommy'? His mind wondered vaguely. It didn't matter what she had called him, now he only cared about finishing what he had started, like an animalistic instinct had taken over him. Tom wanted her to be full of him, so that no one else could ever be good enough for her, so no one else could satisfy her.

"I could do… this to you forever," he said in a low voice, before he bit, and kissed her neck gently.

"I don't think… I could last that long…" she replied, stroking his hair. And, without warning, she arched up against him, moaning his name and Tom watched with satisfaction since it had been he who had caused her body to do that. It wasn't long after Ginny, that Tom came inside her, growling her name.

Breathing heavily, Tom rested above her, his face in the crook of her neck, listening to her heavy breathing. "You're so beautiful, princess," he said quietly.

She smiled softly, and reached up to touch his cheek, kissing him as she did so. Ginny could understand her reaction to him now, it was only because the feeling of euphoria was caused by him that she felt the need to be complacent to him in this way. That was all.

"Ginny…" she heard Tom say, "listen; I know I said otherwise, but I want you to have another child." He pushed himself up, to look at her reaction.

"I'd rather wait until Lizzy is a bit older," she replied, "I won't be able to look after her properly if I become pregnant again."

"I'm not an attractive piece of furniture, Ginny," he muttered, "I can actually do things. I'll help you, and in case you've forgotten again, we do have a Nanny."

"Yes, I know, but can't we just wait a few more months? I'm not ready yet."

"I suppose a few months…."

* * *

The next morning, after Tom said he was going to teach Leo how to write that very day, Ginny instructed Leo to try and remember everything about the room, and eventually she would get him to find out if Tom uses a key, or locks the room magically when he learns the difference.

Before Leo's lesson, Tom had given out his orders to the carriage drivers to take Ginny to where Ron and Hermione were staying. So, whilst Tom was spending time with Leo, and the Nanny was put to use by looking after Elizabeth, Ginny went to visit the two of them.

When the carriage pulled up outside of the house, Ginny realised that Tom must have wanted them to be kept close, as the journey hadn't lasted very long. The house looked normal, four windows at the front, and a little pathway leading to the front door. Ginny walked up the path, flanked by two burly-looking bodyguards that Tom had insisted go with her. They knocked on the door for her.

It was opened by an important-looking ghost, who must have been a butler when he was living. "Could you two just wait in the hallway?"

"Ginny!" she heard a gasp, and she felt herself being lifted off the ground by a strong force. It was Ron. "I haven't seen you in such a long time."

"I know…" she said quietly, "but I'm here now."

"Hermione!" Ron shouted. "Ginny's here!"

The sound of light footsteps coming from the staircase made Ginny turn her attention towards there. "Hello, Ginny," Hermione said gently, "we were wondering when you would be allowed to come." Ginny frowned, something seemed so… false about the two of them, their mouths were smiling, but their eyes looked dead.

"Look, I've come to ask about the Contract," she said bluntly.

Ron's smile faded, and he sat down with a soft thump. "We can't discuss certain things," he explained. "We can't betray our Master's trust."

Ginny stared wide-eyed at him, she knew it was the Contract speaking, but it just sounded so weird coming from Ron's mouth, of all people. "I know the terms, he showed it to me. I just want to know why you signed it. Hermione, you said you planned a resistance, how is that possible? There are no loopholes in this Contract, it's not like your everyday, average contract."

"Precisely, it's a magical contract, and there are ways of getting around magic, there always is," she said conversationally, as if trying to hint something at Ginny. "Before we signed the Contact, we were given a few hours to think about our options. We didn't want to die, Ginny, you saved us, and we wouldn't want to spite the sacrifice you made, so we had to sign the Contract."

"We did it for you, Ginny," Ron explained.

"But, you are going to become Death Eaters, don't you understand that?"

"At least we aren't dead, Ginny," Ron pointed out, "you would be left alone if we hadn't signed."

"Anyway," Hermione continued, "as I was saying, before we signed, we had access to ink and parchment, and many books," she added the last part quickly. "So, we gather that we were in the Library, because I wrote some things down, and put the meaningless notes in a book called 'Immortality: The Road to Eternity'. It was interesting, that's why I left my pointless notes in it."

Ginny blinked. "Hermione, you are making no sense whatsoever…" she thanked the ghost butler for the tea that he had just bought in, and she sat down.

"_Before_ we signed the Contract, we could say what we wanted, I wrote down some un_important_ notes, that you _may_ not want to read, do you catch my drift?"

Ginny stared blankly at Hermione, then turned to Ron, who surprisingly seemed to understand what Hermione was saying, his eyes seeming to be desperate for Ginny to comprehend what her friend was trying to hint to her. "Uhh…" she started, then slowly came to the conclusion. "What was the name of the book? I think I shall read it," she smirked.

Hermione breathed out a sigh of relief, along with Ron. "It's called 'Immortality: The Road to Eternity."

"OK, it sounds so good, that I must go and read it this instant," Ginny stated. "since Tom is distracted at this very moment."

"That's a good idea," Ron muttered, a slight grimace showing through his eyes at the mention of Tom's name. It seemed thoughts were immune from the Contract. "See you later, Ginny, don't get into trouble. If anyone hurts you… well, you know."

Ginny smiled, and hugged her brother for the longest time, she needed to save them again, and she was going to do anything to make sure that they were all safe. If Tom were to be defeated, she didn't want to be alone in the world, with just Leo, and Elizabeth. She needed Ron, and Hermione.

Ginny rushed into the manor, and threw herself up the marble staircase, trying to get to Library as quickly as possible. She passed Tom's study very quietly, and peeked through the keyhole, Tom, and Leo were still in there. She almost let out a whoop of joy, but continued on her way to Library.

Once she reached it, she went straight to the section of Dark magic, and went to 'I', as books were alphabetically sorted by the title of the book. After a while of searching, as there were many books with the title 'Immortality' at the forefront, she finally found the one she was looking for; holding it by it's bindings, she shook it gently, and nearly screamed with happiness as a piece of parchment floated down to the wooden-polished floor. Ginny snapped the book shut, shoving it back in its place before picking up the parchment.

Unfolding it slowly, she checked the name at the bottom; _Hermione_, it read. This was definitely it. And, with that, she began at the top of the parchment, seeing the letter was rather long.

_To Ginny…._

* * *

A/N: Ooohh, cliffie! Hope you enjoyed this chapter. In the next one the contents of the letter is revealed, Ginny has another weird dream, Tom tries persuading Ginny to have another baby again (you try giving birth, you insensitive git, LOL), he also finds another letter from our anonymous writer, and a few other things will be happening. Those of which I won't give any details. Now, show your appreciation, and review, baby!

**Motherlyclucker:** I am glad that I am converting you….

**Smileenov and riah riddle:** All shall be revealed at some point in the story when something goes very wrong for Tom and Ginny.

Thanks for all your reviews.

* * *


	9. Letters

**LIFE AFTER DEATH**

**Part Nine: Letters.**

_ To Ginny,_

_ Ron and I are about to do something we thought we would never do; receive the Dark Mark. It pains us to do this Ginny, but you have to understand our reasons why. First, we will have much more freedom this way, and we can help you. Secondly, we did it for you, because you saved our lives, it would have been a worthless sacrifice when you gave up your freedom in return for our lives. If we don't do as he says, we would just rot away in that cell, dying on the inside. Then we would have been no use to you at all. There is a Contract, and there are rules that, if we sign, will bind us to absolute loyalty to the Dark Lord, so we will not be able to help you properly, we can only hint things, since there are always loopholes in contracts, even magical ones._

_ Read this carefully, there isn't much time. The Contract can be destroyed, rather simply, all you have to do is rip it, this will literally break our bindings to him. However, I'm sure your beloved will hide it, and hide it well. This won't be easy. But, when, and I mean _when_, you find the Contract, don't destroy it instantly, you must make a copy of it, to put it in the original Contracts place, we don't want any suspicions being raised. I suppose you are wondering how you will replicate the Contract without magic; it is simple, all you have to do is call for a House Elf, it won't know any different. The House Elf will replicate the Contract for you._

_ Once this is done, ask the Dark Lord to meet up with us, wherever we may be held, and we can begin planning, you are the closest to the Dark Lord, so you can tell us of his movements, and Ron and I can build up a resistance. You believe there is no one left that will fight Voldemort, yet you've forgotten that not everyone was willing to become a Death Eater. When Ron and I are Death Eaters we will be able to contact these people, and then we can rescue you, Ginny, and you can bring your children with you, and we'll live in peace again. Ron and I will be truly free again._

_Hermione._

_X_

Ginny wondered whether they had ever lived in peace beforehand, but she let it slip her mind as she realised she was crying. Hermione, and Ron needed her so much, they were relying on her, and pinning all their hope on her. Then the thought of having to find the Contract made her dizzy, since the Manor was so big, it would be like trying to find a needle in a haystack, which was virtually impossible….

Everything other than that seemed easy enough, but she knew trying to find it would be exhausting enough, and Tom might notice the changes in her energy patterns. He would definitely become suspicious. He wasn't stupid, not one bit, he had the sharpest, and most cunning mind she had ever encountered in a human being before, and she knew that if she were to pull this off, she would have to wait until the opportune moment.

When she had told Leo about Tom wanting to teach him, the thought of finding the Contract had been the only goal in her mind, so it was a good advantage that his lessons were already beginning, and hopefully she wouldn't have to wait that long for the opportune moment, with Leo's information (if the Contract was in his study) she could just break into there at nighttime somehow, anyhow, anyway she could think of, and carry out the plan.

Just then the sound of Tom's voice calling her name made her startle, and knock a few books off their shelves, and hstily picking them up, she answered him in her softest tone, and stepped out from behind the bookcase to face him.

* * *

Tom watched as Leo left the room with a smile, and wondered why children became so happy having achieved only a small thing; the small thing being learning a quarter of the alphabet. He leant back in his leather armchair, and thought; why didn't he just get someone to teach Leo the basic stuff, like writing, and then basic spells? He would overlook the lessons. Yes, he thought, that is a good idea. And that way, he could spend more time doing other things, such as looking over the land's he now owned, and spending more time with Ginny. 

More time with Ginny, he liked the idea, even if he spent a lot of time with her anyway. It wasn't just sleeping with her, no, he liked when she talked to him, he liked watching her reading, he liked seeing her tending to the baby, and he liked walking with her around the gardens. Tom didn't know why he liked doing these things; maybe he just liked looking at her.

Tom wondered how Ginny had done this to him; it couldn't have been a spell, because she didn't have a wand, and Ginny wasn't powerful enough to do wandless magic. Maybe she used slight, and unnoticeable things, like touches, and looks. Whatever way she had done it, he was ensnared….

Then suddenly, the door burst open, making Tom stand sharply. "Daddy!" It was Leo, waving something around in the air. "I find this!"

"Knock next time, boy," he said angrily, sitting slowly back down, but Tom's anger was obviously ignored by Leo, who continued jumping up and down, with whatever he was holding in his hand. "What is it?"

"Parshment," he answered. "On my bed."

"Parchment," Tom corrected as he took it from him. With one look, Tom saw that it was the same handwriting as the letter Lucius had given him. "Well done," Tom said distractedly. "Go to your mother now, she might want to see you."

"OK," and Leo left the room, feeling happy again, and went off to find Ginny. Tom stared at the letter first, seeing it was short. He didn't really want to read it, in case some other bother was going to befall him, but he began reading it anyway.

_Lord Voldemort, _it read once more,

_It has come to my attention that dear little Ginny has been allowed out on her own. Now, that is some trust you are displaying there, since it is her brother, and friend that she has gone to see, don't you think she might be plotting against you? Do you think she really wants to be your little Lady for the rest of her life? Perhaps her refusing your request for another child should have shed some light on where her loyalties really lie._

_And little Leo, who, at only 3 years old, strives for your praise. Poor boy. So, I've placed this letter in his room, for him to find. This way, he will get some praise. Perhaps he would be better off with some other father figure who will give him the praise he seeks, do you agree? Or, maybe he just needs to have all the attention again. Either way, you'd better solve this problem with the wards fast, because you're going to find yourself childless, or wifeless, perhaps both._

Tom was seething now. This pretentious git, how dare he think that his wards were flawed, his wards were _perfect_! And this stuff about Leo; he was Tom's son, and he would treat him as he pleased. He would smack him if he wanted! And Ginny couldn't plot against him with her brother, that was something this bastard knew nothing about, he didn't know anything about the Contract; no one had been present when the Contract had been signed, not even any House Elves. Ginny _could not_ plot against him. But, something irked him; how could anyone possibly know that he wanted Ginny to have another baby? They had been alone, completely alone. And it had only happened the day before.

He needed to see Ginny.

Ginny was key to everything, she would be able to help him think properly, and she would reassure him that this letter was spouting rubbish. He stood up, calmly so, and stored the letter in the top drawer with the first letter he had received; locking it before he left, along with the door. He asked a passing House Elf, laden with washing, if Ginny had returned, and where she was.

"Pipper is seeing Miss in the Library," it answered, bowing so low, it almost dropped the washing.

Tom continued on his way to the Library, wondering what Ginny was doing in there, and why she hadn't come and informed him of her arrival. Perhaps she was plotting against him… no, it was impossible, and she had been too willing to sleep with him last night, why would she plot against him? He smirked as he remembered the night before. When he got to the Library, Ginny was nowhere in sight. "Ginny," he called in a loud voice, and it seemed the books became unsettled at the noise as he heard frantic fumbling somewhere behind one of the bookcases.

"Yes, Tom," he heard her call back, and she stepped out from behind the bookcase she had been hiding behind. "How was Leo?"

"Fine," he replied. "Why didn't you tell me you had come back?"

"I didn't want to disturb you, if I had interrupted he would forget everything," she said knowingly, as she stepped toward him. She moved her hands up to lie on his face, and chest, and rested against him. "You seem troubled. Did you think I had gone missing?" she joked.

"I… I don't want anyone to take you away from me," he said quietly into her hair.

"What ever gave you that idea?"

"Would you ever leave me, Ginny?" he asked, ignoring her question. "Would you leave me willingly?"

"Tom, what's wrong -?"

"Just answer me," he demanded.

"No," she replied. "Tell me what's wrong, please?" she pleaded, and she turned her face up at him with a concerned look.

"Not yet," he muttered. He bent his head to kiss her upturned face, that lovely, worried face. Tom could feel Ginny's hands running up over his shoulders, and her arms wrapping around his neck, the feeling of her body relaxing against his almost made him forget about that stupid letter…. He could just tear off her navy dress, and take her against one of the bookcases, but, no, he remembered the letter, and he needed to start inventing some better than perfect wards. He pulled away from her.

"Tom?" Ginny said quietly.

"I have work to do," he explained. "It's very important."

"OK, will you be late coming to bed tonight?" she said, her hands on him again.

"Maybe, maybe not," he answered, and he kissed her once before he left, feeling reassured of Ginny's loyalties. Tom returned to his study, and suddenly realised as he pulled out a plan of the old wards, and the blueprint of the manor, that now really wasn't the time for another baby. Sweet Ginny just seemed to have this accurate intuition, or foresight. This stupid letter-writer was ruining his perfect plans for his ultimate rule, but he told himself, that they could have more children after the whole thing blew over, when everything was set, and final.

Now, for the wards….

* * *

_Ginny leant over Tom as he slept, and she knew it sounded so stupid, but he looked so peaceful like that, as though he wasn't a raging monster at all, but a normal husband, a normal father. She sighed as she reached out to touch his smooth cheek, only to gasp sharply as he eyes snapped open, and his hand clutching her wrist._

_"What are you doing?" he mumbled._

_"I don't know," she whispered, and she felt guilty for some reason as she lay back down, and she suddenly burst into tears._

"_Hey, hey…" she heard Tom as he sat up, "why are you crying, princess?"_

"_I'm confused," she sobbed._

"_About what?"_

"_I don't know…" she uttered once more. "Did I wake you up?" she said, trying to make herself stop crying, and drawing on unwanted suspicions from a very suspicious man. Especially from a jealous husband, who liked to know what she did most of the time, and the like._

"_No," he replied. "Why are you confused?" he continued to pry. _

"_I don't know, Tom," she said, sniffling. "I just feel befuddled about everything."_

_He grinned lazily at her, wiping her fresh tears away, and leaning in to kiss her once. "I know why," he drawled as he squeezed her breast very gently. "Come now, you should sleep now, Ginny, you never know what may happen tomorrow…" he warned as he lay back down, holding Ginny in his arms as she slowly drifted off to sleep again…._

Ginny opened her eyes, and saw nothingness, but realised that it was still dark out, and when she turned to her side, she saw that Tom was still not in bed. She wondered what had been troubling him earlier on, and whether it had anything to do with her, since he had asked her those out-of-the-blue questions. And he had almost found her reading that letter, and if he had read it, then everything would have been for nothing.

She stilled as she heard footsteps; Tom's footsteps, and laid back down, pretending to be asleep. Ginny was still too tired from the night before, and she presumed that Tom was probably tired now from having stayed up so late, working. The bedroom door opened slowly, and Tom stepped in, instantly taking his shoes off, but not bothering with his clothes as he climbed into his king-size bed.

He looked at Ginny through the sliver of moonlight. Was he really scared? Tom couldn't remember ever being truly scared, or deeply worried, he had seen people in that state, but he had never really experienced it himself, and he wasn't ready to start experiencing it right now. The wards he had placed _did_ have a flaw, but it was trivial, not something to worry over since the flaw was that only certain people could Apparate straight into the vicinity. He would change that now; only he would be able to Apparate in, and out.

Ginny could hear Tom's steady breathing, and sensed that he was looking at her, realising that there was no point in pretending to be asleep, since he would soon discover her like the last time. "Tom?" she said in a sleepy voice, opening her eyes once more, and lifting her hand to rest on his cheek. "When did you come to bed?"

"Just now," he replied in a worn tone. "You awake for me, it seems you know when I am near. That pleases me, Ginny," he muttered as he lay down, and she realised he was still wearing his day-clothes; her Mum had taught her that she should always change her clothes at bedtime, because they 'weren't that poor', she would say. "Tom, you should change, sleeping in your normal clothes ruins them."

He gave a chuckle. "Then I'll buy new clothes," he replied in a quiet tone.

"At least take your shirt off…" she suggested, and she sat up, surprising herself that she should care so much about what Mrs. Weasley had taught her, and her brothers, who were mostly slobs, apart from Percy, but would still pertain to this one thing their mother had taught them. Ginny unbuttoned his dark shirt, only stopping when she felt Tom's hands holding her wrists firmly.

"I see…" he muttered in a sly voice. "But, I'm worn out, now, Ginny, not tonight, my siren."

Ginny felt herself blush under the cloak of darkness. "But, I-," she started.

"No, shh," he murmured, and he pulled her down to him, her head resting on his chest. And he held her tight, in case anyone were to lurk in the shadows with thoughts of stealing Ginny right from under his nose. He couldn't bear the thought of Ginny suddenly being gone, like last time…. The smell of her hair, the feel of her hands, that just stopping so suddenly would surely make him go mad. He knew it.

"Tom," she whispered, her lips brushing over his chest as she spoke, "will you tell me what has been troubling you? Please? I want to make it better."

"I will tell you when the time is right," he muttered. "Don't ask me again." And she obeyed, and finally fell asleep against him. Yes, he was tired, but something was keeping him awake, he needed to protect Ginny. She was such a wonderful wife, wanting to know why he was troubled, pleasing him without even knowing it….

Despite fighting slumber for as long as possible, Tom found himself walking in dreams of Ginny, but with the same subconscious feeling that had urged him to stay awake.

* * *

Ginny was searching; she was searching very frantically indeed, for baby Elizabeth, for when she had woken that morning, and gone to check on her, all she had found was an empty cot. She couldn't think how anyone could have stolen her, Tom had the best wards she had ever known of, matching those of Dumbledore's at Hogwarts. 

So, where was she?

Maybe, Ginny hoped desperately, she was with the Nanny. So she set off to the East Wing, where most of the guest rooms where, and the quarters of the Nanny, however, when she reached there, she only found that her bedroom was empty, not a soul to be found. Now Ginny was getting very scared indeed. Tom would help her… yes, Tom would be just as worried as she was, and he would have the power to send out a search party, he would find their baby indefinitely.

Breaking into a run, she breezed through the twists and turns of the hallways once more into the West Wing, and to Tom's study, only to find the damned thing locked. "Tom?" she called out desperately through the door, in case he was in there, but there was no reply. It was breakfast time, he would be in the dining room…. Running once again, Ginny hurried down the marble staircase, and past through the parlour, and into the dining room. "Oh, Tom! I can't find Lizzy!"

Tom looked up at a grief-stricken Ginny, then laughed. "She's right here, Ginny," he said in a bemused tone, and sure enough, Elizabeth was there, sitting on his lap, her dark curls tied up with a white ribbon. Ginny sighed with relief, almost laughing at how she had over-reacted, and smiled at Elizabeth as she sat up on Tom's lap. Ginny became aware of how the months had passed, with each day Lizzy was learning new things.

"I thought someone had taken her…" Ginny said quietly, trying not to startle the baby, as she bent to pick her up. "Oh, baby…." Ginny kissed Elizabeth's head, and rocked her slightly. "Why did you bring her down here?"

"She was awake," he replied as Ginny sat down. "I didn't want to leave her alone, just lying awake." Tom finished his breakfast, but remained in his seat when Ginny's appeared before her, since she put Elizabeth back on his lap.

Ginny could have almost burst out laughing at the sight of a bouncing baby on Tom's lap, even more so that he didn't even look disgruntled about it. She wondered why she had reacted so badly, she should have known that Elizabeth might have been with someone else in the house, maybe it was because Tom had made her feel uneasy the night before; he wouldn't tell her anything, and it wasn't like him to do that, he would have at least given her brief details. Even a small hint would suffice at this moment in time.

"Are you working again today?" she questioned conversationally.

"Yes," he replied.

"On what?"

"Important matters," he answered in a vague manner. "Stop questioning me now, I will tell you my plans if I wish to, Ginny, and that's that."

"I just wanted to know," she said innocently. "It's my job to know the small things, and to know what my husband does, so I can help."

"Is it now?" he said, an eyebrow raised. "Your job is to be my wife, and a mother."

"That entails so many things, Tom," she muttered. "Such as what I just said."

"You can't help me," he said quietly. "I don't need help with this matter, I just need you to stop asking me questions, and prying into my business. Everything is all right, Ginny, there is no need for you to worry about the safety of the children." His dark-blue eyes were staring intensely into her brown ones. "That is why you were frantic just now, I've made you upset."

Ginny pushed her plate away, and watched as her plate disappeared before looking into Tom's eyes again. "I'm not upset, Tom, I'm just concerned."

"I'll tell you what's been happening by the end of the month, Ginny," he told her as he handed the baby back to Ginny, since he was going to start drawing up his plans for the new wards. He opened his mouth, about to say that he would tell her when she, and the children were safe, but closed his mouth quickly before he made her panic again.

Yes, by the end of the month, everything would be sorted; the wards will be finished, and he would have caught this bastard who thought he could frighten Tom, frighten him! And when he did catch him, Tom would murder him himself….

* * *

**SailorHecate:** LOL. I wouldn't make them have that many kids! 

**Sapphire Crystal:** I know what you mean about people starting something they aren't going to finish, I sometimes do that, but then I always go back to it. And to answer your question, you'll just have to wait and see what that little word means….

**Motherlyclucker:** How did you come upon this story if you generally don't like G/T? I'm just really curious. Also, thanks for calling my story awesome. There is still time to convert you to the ways of G/T, Motherlyclucker, let me tell you.

A/N: Thanks for all your reviews, people. Also, this time I'm not going to reveal anything from the next chapter, I want you to be surprised as it were. Though I could give you a very, very hard clue, with just one word, and the word is: Distraction.

Review me, and tell me what you think I mean by this word. Hope you've enjoyed this chapter.


	10. Distractions

**LIFE AFTER DEATH**

**Part Ten: Distractions.**

Ginny was sat at Tom's desk in his study, which she had found unlocked upon his departure to some Death Eater meeting, but she hadn't been lucky in her search for the Contract; it must be somewhere obvious, somewhere so obvious she would never have possibly thought it could be there…. Their bedroom was a possibility, but then she remembered that he had left the room with it, and had not returned with it. But, had he? Ginny recalled hiding herself in the bathroom, and he had returned whilst she was still in there… but, she thought, he would not have taken the risk, he couldn't have known that she was going to go into the bathroom. Ginny promptly ruled out that suggestion, and continued to search for another.

Whilst she thought, she flicked through the parchments on his desk again, they were just maps of regions in England, and France; boring stuff. Then two pieces of paper fell from the pile, and as she bent to retrieve them, she realised that they were two photos. One was a Muggle photo of the dining room, this didn't interest her at all, so she put it back, but the other was a picture of herself; she was on the swing in the secluded area of the gardens, and she was pregnant, she supposed with Elizabeth, but Ginny couldn't ever remember having her picture taken. Tom must look at it frequently, she thought to herself, because it was rather worn in her eyes.

Ginny sighed, and stood up then, after placing everything back in its original place; sitting there was wasting time, and Tom could come home any minute, catching her in the act, which would not do at all. At least her curiosity had been fed, but she was a bit disappointed, because she always expected his study to be a bit more interesting than that, even finding some strange Dark Arts paraphernalia would have sufficed. Lazily wondering why he had a photo of her when he could look at her all the time, Ginny didn't notice that a pair of bauble-proportioned eyes were watching her every move….

They followed her intensively, until she turned the corner in the hallway, and once there was nothing to see, the large eyes disappeared with a CRACK!

"Who's there?" Ginny called out sharply, suddenly becoming very alert at the sound of someone Apparating. It was very dimly lit in these corridors, and her heart was racing so fast it made her dizzy, causing the lighting to seem dimmer; she was getting frightened, what if Tom had been watching her all along? Was he trying to punish her? He knew she didn't like things like this…. Then she screamed at the sudden feel of a hand on her shoulder.

"Ginny!" she gasped, almost buckling with fear; it was Tom…!

"Don't hurt me," she pleaded.

"I'm not going to hurt you," he said gently in her ear as he spun her around to face him, "I just wanted to know why you are roaming around the hallways right now."

"What?" she whispered gingerly. "Don't pretend to me, you're frightening me on purpose." Ginny realised that she was sounding erratic, but she didn't care, she wouldn't let Tom lure her into a false sense of security, only to lash out when she least expected it.

"Ginny, you aren't making any sense to me," he said in a steady voice, "I've only just arrived home, why would I want to frighten you?"

"But, I…" she trailed off, just beginning to realise how much damage she was doing to her mission, she was going to make him very suspicious of her indeed if she continued on the way she was. There must have been someone else watching her, and for some reason, this made Ginny more frightened than anything ever had.

"Perhaps I shouldn't leave you by yourself at night anymore," he suggested in a bemused tone.

"I just thought I heard someone following me, was all," she insisted, but she suddenly felt glad that Tom was there, sure was sure that someone was following her, she had heard the very distinct sound of someone Apparating, and it couldn't have been Tom, because he always Apparated into the Entrance. "Maybe I was imagining it… I do get a little scared when you leave me," she added, just to throw him off, she didn't want to alert him, because then he would tighten security even more, and it would be impossible for her to move from one place to another without being detected. "Are you staying for the rest of the night?" she questioned in a small voice.

"Yes," he replied. "Don't worry, Ginny, I'll protect you from the monsters," he smirked.

0000000000000000

The House Elf wrung his hands together in a gleeful manner with the knowledge that he was about to give his Master, who would give him the pleasure of washing his feet as a reward. "Well, what information do you have for me, now, Zokori? It better be something good that I can put in this next letter," his Master warned.

"Zokori is knowings about the Dark Lord's wifeses," he said eagerly, waiting for his Master's approval to continue, and a wave of the hand gave him the green light, so he continued with fervour. "She is being snoopings around his study, she is beings lookings for something. Zokori knowses that Miss isn't being allowed there, but she is snoopings anyway."

"Hmm, interesting…" his Master muttered to himself. "What was she looking for?"

"Zokori is not knowings that," the House Elf said in a disappointed tone. "But, I is knowings about the Dark Lords new Wardses," he continued hopefully.

"So, my little threats are working then? No doubt he is becoming more and more distracted everyday," he said in an amused voice, which sounded like it didn't suit him at all. "Carry on."

"The Dark Lords new Wardses will only let him in, Zokori will not being able to Apparate from here and backs," the House Elf informed. His Master sat and contemplated for a while, and finally smirked to himself as he permitted Zokori to wash his feet.

00000000000000000

"Ginny, I'm going to lose my temper very soon, if you don't settle down this instant," Tom said in a firm tone as he sat up, and gave her a hard look. "There is nothing in this room. I checked it, you saw me check it thoroughly. The noises you are hearing are the same noises we hear every night."

"I've never heard them before," she insisted. "You're just saying that."

"The only reason you've never heard them before, is because you were never listening out for them before," he said in a berating tone. "For Merlin's sake…" he sighed, and lifted his hand in a graceful, sweeping gesture, which illuminated the whole room; there was nothing to be seen. "What did I say? There is nothing there," he said, satisfied, as he leant forward to kiss her once more.

"No, wait," she said hastily, pushing him away, "what's that?" Ginny pointed to a dark figure near her dressing table. Tom swept the light over in that direction, only to reveal his jacket hanging off the back of the chair.

"Oh my, it's a jacket, how horrifying…" he sneered.

"It could have been anything, Tom!" she said angrily. "Stop being so horrid to me, it's your fault I'm being like this; you sneaked up on me, and you won't tell me why you're so high-strung. It's not fair on me!"

"Why can't you stop whinging in my ear? It's getting on my nerves!"

"Stop shouting, you'll wake the baby," she said angrily. "Why do you always have to shout?" He smirked then, looking down at her crossed arms, and her defiant face. "Don't laugh at me when I'm upset, you know I hate it."

"I'm not laughing at you, I'm thinking about how lovely you look when you're angry," he murmured as he leant toward her again.

"I'm too upset, now, Tom -," but she was cut off completely as he kissed her, and pinned her down gently. She wriggled about restlessly for a while, trying to escape his grasp, but she tired soon. "You make me so angry," she whispered breathlessly, as he started to kiss her neck.

"Likewise," he said in a low voice. "Perhaps even more so."

Just then, the sound of a light banging made Ginny jump violently. "Tom! What is it? See what it is," she urged worriedly. "It's coming from the balcony."

Tom scowled, and walked furiously toward the balcony. "It's just a stupid letter!" he stated resentfully, as he wrenched open the glass door to let it fall inside; it seemed it had been charmed to navigate itself without an owl. The sender didn't want to be traced, and with this logic in Tom's mind, he instantly knew who was causing this unwanted interruption. "Go to sleep, Ginny," he ordered as he picked up the yellowed envelope.

"Where are you going?" she said uneasily as she clutched onto the bed cover. "You have to stay with me, Tom."

"I'm not going anywhere," he snapped, and immediately regretted it. Tom walked over to her, and sat beside Ginny, who seemed so tiny, and genuinely afraid that something was going to harm her. "I'll be right here, you don't need to worry," he said quietly, stroking her cheek, "just go to sleep, Ginny."

"O-OK…" she complied, and she laid down, ready to sleep.

He reached to touch her, but decided against it, and reluctantly moved away from her. Why did everyone have to interfere? When he found whoever was doing this, he was going to crush his skull, and torture him in ways that even the most hardened man couldn't handle.

_Your Worship,_

_How much longer? _It read. _It seems to me like some outside influences are distracting you from the bigger picture, your Worship. Shouldn't you be sorting out your terribly flawed security charms, or do you really want to risk losing your most precious item? Of course, who could resist the charms of your very beautiful wife? You can hardly keep your hands off her, and who couldn't when she has such a lovely body?_

_I laugh now, my servant informs me of your wife's recent movements, which I am sure you know nothing of. I hear she has been looking through some of your things, things that are quite forbidden to her, how naughty of her to disobey you, to go behind your back and sneak around. But, of course, you wouldn't believe me; you don't want to believe that your sweet, little princess could ever disobey you. It's quite saddening to see how infatuated you are with her, when she clearly doesn't return it._

_Either way, your Wards had better be fixed soon, because you'll never know when I could choose to pop in._

Tom almost screamed with rage, but remembered that Elizabeth was sleeping. Why did this person insist on making up lies about Ginny? She loved him, she had been so very willing, and affectionate recently, that no one could doubt that she belonged to him; it was obvious that she depended on him, just now was witness to that fact. And, he thought triumphantly, Ginny couldn't look anywhere that was forbidden, because she was free to go wherever she liked inside the house, except the study, which was always locked by the House Elves whenever he went out. Ginny had been in the Library all day, as she had told him, and one of the House Elves had seconded that earlier that evening when he was questioning her about it.

This anonymous letter writer was beginning to look more and more like a joker each time he wrote, but that didn't mean that he wasn't going to torture him. He was still distracting Tom from more important matters, like making love to Ginny, for one.

He sighed, tired, and dropped the letter on the nearest table before he made his way to bed, to Ginny….

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Ginny woke up that morning, feeling pleasantly refreshed, and finding that Tom was sleeping, really sleeping, and not just pretending to make sure he woke before her. Everything seemed better in the morning; nothing could lurk in dark corners, or anything like that now. When she stood, and stretched, she picked up her new dark blue dressing gown from the floor, and wrapped it around her as she went to her dressing table.

At first, she went to pick up her brush, but a piece of parchment caught her eye; it hadn't been there yesterday. Upon closer inspection, she noticed that it was addressed to Tom, the words 'Your Worship' on the top of the parchment was a bit of a giveaway. Ginny wondered if she should read it, but resolved that it couldn't be that important if Tom had just left it where she could plainly see it, so she picked it up.

Her eyes moved along the words, and the more she read, the wider her eyes became. Tom couldn't believe the stuff about her, could he? Because he wouldn't have just let her lay there unaware, he would have dragged her out of bed, and hit her, and shout at her. He would have punished her. But, the part about the Wards irked her, and she contemplated whether this could be the source for Tom's restlessness, it had implied that she would be the one taken….

No, she wouldn't let herself be frightened anymore; not now, she couldn't let Tom know that she knew. Of course, Ginny had no idea why he had left that where he had, but she was sure that he didn't want her knowing about the contents of the letter, so she placed it back the way she had found it, and sat down, acting as if it were any normal morning, and began brushing her hair.

"Have you calmed down now?" His voice questioned after a few minutes.

"Yes, I feel much better now," she replied, turning to face him. He couldn't possibly believe that letter now, could he? She smiled sweetly at him, before turning to face the mirror again.

"Thank Merlin," he muttered.

"Oh, I found this on my dressing table," she said nonchalantly, picking up the letter, and walking toward him. "I don't think it's very important, just a flimsy bit of recycled parchment."

Tom took it from her, and tore it to shreds in front of her eyes. "You're right, it's nothing important…" he stood up, and kissed her on the head before he made his way to the bathroom. Ginny smiled to herself, elated. One thing that letter had got right was the fact that Tom would never believe that she was being disobedient to his wishes, because his pride was far too big, due to her making it so, she admitted to herself.

It did not matter, because now she knew she was definitely not under suspicion, and she continued to smile to herself as she went to check on Elizabeth, as she usually began to whine by now for food. "Is my little cherry-top not hungry today?" she said softly as she entered the nursery. Ginny looked into the heavily blanketed cot, only to find it empty. Now, Ginny would let herself start to get frightened. "Tom?" she called, her voice wavering anxiously.

"What?" he stood in the doorway.

"I-I… is the Nanny working today? It's Sunday," she said in a hopeful voice.

"No," Tom replied, his eyebrow rose slightly, questioning why she was asking him that.

"But, she has to be!" Ginny almost shouted. "Lizzy isn't here! She has to be working, where else could my baby be!"

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**Brownonions:** I pictured him different as well, how can anyone be born without feelings?

**Bumblez 24:** I can tell you're on sugar. LOL.

**Motherlyclucker:** I don't think I could join you. Stealing cookies would be bad for my soul, and, more importantly, my figure. :D

**Studiofreek:** Tom with multiple personalities would just be far too difficult to write, and your theory about it being Harry is really good. The distraction thing was to do with Ginny, but she didn't do it on purpose, it's just the fact that Tom is male, and we know that basically means animal (joking), so… he was distracting himself really, resulting in a missing baby.

**Sapphire Crystal:** You'll just have to find out for yourself why Tom finds Ginny so attractive. Update me with your findings.

A/N: OK, thanks for ALL your reviews, I was going to reply to every single one, but you might start thinking I'm only doing that to make the chapter seem longer, and, plus, I don't really know what to say to everything.

Also, I've been on holiday for two weeks, so that kind of put a damper on the update. I was in Spain, anyone else gone abroad this summer?


	11. Action Reaction

**LIFE AFTER DEATH**

**Part Eleven: Action/Reaction**

Tom's study was completely trashed, since he had suddenly flown into a rage at his very own incompetence. The sight of Ginny breaking down in tears was more than he could stand, and he had left her to be comforted by a maid. All he could think about was how it was his own terrible fault, he rarely made mistakes, but it seemed when he did, they had major consequences, just like now.

His baby could be dead, thrown in a watery ditch somewhere by some nutcase. It wasn't thinkable. Tom caught sight of his picture of Ginny, smiling adoringly down at her pregnant stomach, picking it up, he sighed. The picture had been a result of a memory he had of her, like using a Pensive, he had extracted the memory, and put it into the form of a still picture. Elizabeth had been much safer there, inside Ginny's womb, where she couldn't be kidnapped at all. He sat down; rubbing his temple, trying to think logically now his mind wasn't clouded with rage.

Tom's pattern of thought went in this direction; he would get his very best men searching every corner of the planet. Spying on anything suspicious. And a reward to whoever found her, even for the public. He would get everyone involved. Tom Accioed his eagle-feather quill, inkpot, and a dozen pieces of parchment, intending to write letters to his men, and then finally to his Minister of Magic, who Tom had personally appointed, who would get the message across to the whole of Britain.

He had already tried all forms of Locator spells, and none had succeeded; this kidnapper was clever, he must have put up all kinds of shields to prevent Tom penetrating his hideout. To prevent his capture, and eventual torture.

There was nothing more Tom could do now, so he left his ramshackle study, after he had sent those letters by Owl post. He made his way back to his sleeping quarters, not wanting to see Ginny crying any longer, yet, when he opened the door, he found her staring blankly at the floor as she sat in the armchair by the fireplace. He dismissed the maid, and stood by the fire grate, his back to her, with his arm resting on the mantelpiece.

Unable to resist any longer, Tom faced her once more, but she was now looking into the blazing fire, her eyes wide, and childish, and he had to look hard to see whether she was still breathing or not, for her body was almost impossibly still. It seemed she was in a total state of shock; all cried out, and fearing the worst. Tom wanted to comfort her, but in situations such as these, he always remained a realist. How could he console her when he had no idea if their baby would be safe? How could he console her when there was nothing to assure _him_? He remembered how hysterical she had been earlier on, and she had not eaten all day. She obviously wasn't very optimistic of Elizabeth's chances.

Now, all he could was wait, It was too frustrating beyond belief, to know that he could have prevented this, if only he had finished those Wards. If only he hadn't been so arrogant to believe that he was completely untouchable in his manor. If only….

Just then, Ginny burst into tears again unexpectedly, her head on the arm of the chair, and one of her arms dangling hopelessly as she sobbed. Tom finally took her hand, and bent down. "Ginny, come," he murmured softly, crying won't help this matter."

"It h-helps m-me," she mumbled, making it almost impossible to hear amongst her sporadic sobs.

"You must stop," he said gently, stroking her head. "I need you to think for me, for the baby, do you understand?" Ginny looked up at him as fresh tears spilled over her cheeks when she nodded. "Last night, when you thought someone was following you, who or what do you think it could have been?"

"I-I don't know at all," she replied, sniffling, "b-but, it did s-sound like a house elf Apparating." She pressed her face into his shirt, making him hold her. "What if she n-needs me?" she cried. "I w-want to h-hold her so much!"

"Shh, hush, now," he said soothingly. "I will find her, you don't need to worry, alright?" He lifted her face, and wiped away her tears. "Do you doubt me?"

Ginny shook her head. "No," she said quietly, "I-I want to believe you will find her, but what if she is never found, Tom? I couldn't handle it…."

"I wouldn't say I could find her if I couldn't," he murmured. "Now, come to dinner, you need to eat. Remember, we have a son also." Tom kissed her forehead lightly, and took her hand as he led her out of their room, and into the dining room, where Leo sat, accompanied by a house elf, waiting for them.

"You late!" he said in an accusing manner. "I a good boy for not being late."

"Yes, that's right," Ginny muttered gently to him, ruffling his hair as she sat down. "You're a very good boy, and Mummy and Daddy are naughty." She gave a slight smile, before looking down at her plate.

"Mama, you look sad," the young boy said curiously. "What makes you sad?"

Ginny looked at him, and kissed his forehead. "Many things, my love," she murmured softly, "many things."

* * *

"_It is a new era, my love," she heard Tom murmur in a smooth voice, his breath making the nerves in her ear tingle. "And in this era, you will obey me completely, your thoughts will not betray me, your body will not betray me, and your soul will not betray me. This marks your final chance, my wife, and it _will_ be your final chance to prove your loyalty to me."_

"_I understand, Tom," she whispered, looking ahead of her with confidence._

"_You will no longer visit who you wish, or go outside of this manor where you wish, unless I give my approval," he stood in front of her now. "When you were returned to me, I was too pleased to have you back, that I let my mind become clouded, and I became too soft on you. This is a new era, Ginevra," he repeated, looking down at her with a blank look. "No longer will I allow you to elude me, or cloud my judgement."_

_She stood up, looking up at him, and reaching out to touch his face, until he held it firmly, and placed it back to her side. "Tom… I only want to show you that I have changed," she said softly._

"_You will show me that soon," he said in a straight voice. "You will show me that you are a true wife in front of all my Death Eaters, in front of Ministry officials, in front of their wives, who remain loyal to them, who don't betray their husbands the way you have."_

"_But, I told you why," she said defensively. "You told me that you forgive me…" she muttered hopelessly._

"_And I do," he replied, "and it is a rare thing for me to do, especially since you were conspiring to kill me, conspiring to kill the father of your children, and, worst of all, conspiring against me when you were pregnant with my very own flesh and blood," she looked down, guilt ridden on her face, although she had repented to him, he was still making her feel the way she was. "You would do well to fully appreciate my forgiveness, Ginevra." He lifted her face up to his, and looked down at her face with satisfaction. "You look beautiful, my sweet, and I will make love to you, tonight. For once, we will conceive, and the child will be pure of our attacks on each other. Is that understood?"_

"_Yes, Tom."_

"Mistress Riddle," someone was calling her out of her slumber. "Mistress Riddle?" It was a feminine, human voice, and she opened her eyes slowly, finding the face of her personal maid hovering over her. "Mistress, Master is requesting that you go to breakfast," she said softly, her eyes sympathetic.

"OK," Ginny mumbled. What was the point? What was the point in doing anything anymore? Without her baby girl, she couldn't be anything but depressed, and teary. She tried to take her mind off it, and concentrated on the dream she had just had. It was like those others where she had been distraught, and crying, and those were coming true, the night before had been like déjà vu, and she knew she had dreamt it before. Ginny could only wonder whether this dream would come true, whether he would find out about her plans. She looked down, it seemed almost blasphemous to even think about killing Tom in the situation they were in right then, it seemed so wrong. Especially when he had been her comfort, and support ever since Elizabeth had been taken from them.

She made her way downstairs, and went into the dining room, where Tom sat, waiting patiently for her, but Leo was nowhere in sight. As if reading her mind he said "our son is taking breakfast in his room, I wish to eat alone with you."

"Why?"

"I am bidding you farewell," he stated.

"W-What?" she whispered. "You can't leave me, not now… I need you," she was close to tears already, even before he could explain why he was leaving.

"I want to search for my daughter, Ginny," he said in a placating manner. "I am Elizabeth's father, I can't stay at home at let my men get on with it. I can't sleep anyway, what is the point in staying here? I will be of more use to you, if I was searching for her myself."

"Then I want to go with you," she demanded.

"No, Ginevra," he said firmly, his eyes hard on her. "You have other obligations, like looking after our son."

"Tom, you can't go," she repeated. "I won't have anyone to reassure me."

"Ginny, I will write to you of our progress," he said in an obvious tone, giving a slight grin at her forgetfulness about Owls, and their uses. "With me out there, there will be considerable progress, a better chance of finding her. You understand this?"

Ginny sighed, holding her head. "Yes," she mumbled. "I understand. If you don't come back with her, I'll never forgive you, Tom," she said accusingly.

"Don't worry," he murmured. "Now eat, you need to remain healthy, remember that. And try not to be depressed, you should be reassured that I will find her. And I will murder whoever it is that has taken her, and caused your pain." Ginny supposed that if she had a twisted mind, those words would have been romantic, and would have warranted a kiss between them. But, Ginny didn't have a twisted mind, unfortunately for Tom, who leaned over and kissed her anyway.

* * *

The next few weeks were an unhappy blur for Ginny, and even more so when she had to act like everything was alright around Leo, who didn't take Elizabeth's disappearance very seriously. He merely thought that she would simply come back again when she wanted to. Ginny had wished she could have had the very same simple, and careless explanation, and be happy with it. But, she knew better than to be naïve, Tom had taught her that when they had first met, and a painful lesson it was.

Tom's letters had been nothing more than optimism, that didn't suit Tom very well, and Ginny knew that they were no closer to finding her than Ginny was, so what was the point of him being out there? This impatience came as an uncertain blessing for Ginny, as it made her come out of her slump, and start thinking….

That was how she had found herself in the manors' kitchens, speaking with the house elves. "Do all of you, every house elf that works here, report back to this kitchen?" she questioned. Her reasons for going to house elves was simple; the sound of the Apparation _was_ definitely that of a House Elf.

"Yes, Mistress," they answered in unison, all of them dropping their duties to reply to her.

"And has there been anything odd happening around here?" she said inquiringly. "Or an elf who hasn't reported back?"

They all seemed to shuffle their feet, their huge eyes bulging in their sockets as though guilt was overwhelming them. "Mistress!" one cried. "Please do not punish us!"

"What is it?" Ginny said frantically to the grief-stricken elf. "What has happened?"

"Andriy is witnessings a disobedient house elf!" he wailed, tugging on his ears, as the others began to randomly search for items to beat themselves with, until Ginny stopped them abruptly, to their immense relief.

"No! I need you to tell me about this house elf, I don't want you to punish yourselves, just tell me!"

Andriy sat on the floor and sobbed into his hands. "I is cooking dinner for Mistress, Master is being away, and Yusef is being nasties to us, and not doing his job. He is being a new house elf, Mistress," Andriy explained through his sobs. "Now, he is being gone, tellings us that we will be having our heads cut off by his true masters!"

The others wailed and went to slam themselves against the wall, head first, until Ginny halted them in an annoyed voice. "Stop it!" she shouted. "Continue, please."

"He is sayings nasty lies about Mistress, he is sayings that Mistress is beings a dirty, half-bloods whore!" Ginny gasped, but let him continue. "Then he is gone, and sayings that his Masters is killings Master and Mistress!"

Ginny put a hand to her mouth, struggling for breath at this revelation. She stood up, leaving the kitchens and forgetting to say thank you to the house elves, as she ran to her room quickly and hastily. Once she got there, she yanked open the drawer on her dressing table, and picked up the quill and parchment that lay inside. She sat down, and pulled the inkpot toward her, and began to write messily,

_Tom,_

_I have some useful news, well, whether it will help the search isn't clear, but it is important…._

* * *

A/N: One of the reviewers got the answer in one, but I don't think it's that hard to figure out, I'm no good at being elusive, or trying to disguise someone. Absolute rubbish at it. Also, I know it's short, but I didn't want to bombard you with what is going to happen in the next chapter. Also, I am trying to make my chapters long, and will probably have long ones soon. This problem really bugs me!

**PurpleRainbow:** Your observations are correct. Oh, and I love your story, I plan to review the next chapter soon, when I'm not half asleep, and slurring my words.

**SanityEscapesMe:** Harry is dead and gone. However, I could bring him back with some voodoo magic, and make the story more interesting… hmmm….

**Dracoandme:** Thanks for your review. The writer merely wants revenge for being forgotten, and now, obviously, people have to pay attention, don't they?

**Smileenov:** I'm glad you think my story is amazing.

**Brownonions:** You should take into account Ginny's dreams, they display some truth, so maybe her dream in this chapter will come true, you'll just have to wait and see.

**Hayakawa:** It won't be too long, because it isn't the main plot, and I want to get on with main plot of the story, if there is one, I never know…. No, I'm joking, of course there is a plot! How was Taiwan?

Thanks for all your reviews, people, even though I don't deserve them for being a neglectful writer. Feel free to give me virtual slaps.

* * *


	12. House Elves

I think I better start doing a disclaimer again.

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the Harry Potter characters present in this fic. I do own Leo, and Zokori the House Elf, however.

Enjoy!

**LIFE AFTER DEATH**

**Chapter Twelve: House Elves**

Ginny had only sent the letter an hour ago, but already she was growing impatient for a reply; she had basically told Tom everything the house elves had told her, obviously with the third person and willingness to punish themselves at every opportunity. She wondered whether the information would be of any importance at all, and since she had gotten the name of the house-elf-turned-spy from another house-elf, maybe the Master would be flushed out easier, and quicker than anticipated. Of course, she knew that there were thousands, _millions_, of house elves across England, but somebody _must_ know of one called Zokori. They just had to, because it was _her_ baby's life at stake.

She had never been without her children for longer than two weeks, when Leo was a baby, that had been so traumatic, and she _actually_ knew where he was, Tom had just prevented her from seeing him, but it still affected her, like he wanted it to...

_Ginny sat and waited for Tom, tapping her shoe on the floor in an irritated manner, her arms crossed firmly. Why was he taking so long? Earlier, when she had ignored Tom's questions and angered him, she had gone to play with Leo for a while, but one of the maids had called her to the lounge downstairs to pick out some dresses. When she had returned, Leo was no longer in his crib. That was three hours ago, and she suspected Tom had had something to do with it._

"_Not hiding under the bed," Tom had entered the room, unaware to Ginny, and he sounded infuriatingly smug, "I see." He removed his cloak as Ginny stood up, and smirked arrogantly at her, triumphantly. "You know, Ginny, I think that you won't be hiding under the bed for much longer."_

"_What have you done with him?" she demanded, her eyes wide, and her voice trembling with anger as he lit the fire, and sat very casually in one of the armchairs. "Tell me where he is, Tom."_

_All he did was chuckle, only to enrage Ginny even more. "You sound as though you think I have harmed him, Ginny," he stated bemusedly, laughter dancing in his blue eyes._

"_I wouldn't expect any less from you," she spat harshly._

"_That hurts, Ginny, it really does," Tom said, his voice dripping with sarcasm, then he stood up, walking toward Ginny, only to stop right in front of her, so close that she had to lift her head up; she wouldn't give in, but she almost winced as he raised a hand to her cheek, though all he did was stroke her there lightly. "What ever happened to our agreement? Aren't Gryffindors supposed to be loyal?"_

"_What 'agreement'?" she said in a harsh tone, pushing his hand away resentfully._

"_I let you see your brother, and the Mudblood," he began, "and you, in return, obey my wishes, and behave like a normal wife."_

_Ginny glared at him, and shoved his hand away again as he went to stroke her cheek once more, causing him to laugh softly. "I _am_ acting like a normal wife, any _normal_ wife would react like this at being…" she searched for a word, "…at being _imprisoned!_"_

"_Not in my generation," he retorted haughtily._

"_Well, I'm not from _your_ generation," she said in an obvious tone. "Perhaps you should have married Professor McGonagall!"_

"_Oh, Ginny, you do amuse me," Tom murmured. "But, the fact remains that you agreed that those terms were acceptable to you, yet you do not fulfil your end of the bargain," he was now speaking to her as though she were a child, dictating and berating her, "whereas I have."_

"_I don't care," she replied nastily. "I want my baby!"_

"_You should care," he hissed in a serious manner, grasping her upper arm in a tight grip, "because the reason for the child's absence is everything to do with our agreement. Now," he said commandingly, "sit down." He pulled her by her arm to the armchair, and practically threw her down before standing in front of the mantelpiece. "I visited your brother today, Ginny," he began conversationally, "and it is him that reminded me of our little arrangement. You see, Ginny, he is highly volatile, and the things he says about you anger me very much." His face had suddenly become so devoid of any emotion that Ginny had to avert her gaze to the fire. "And it reminds me of how disobedient you have been, childish to a point; so, like a child ought to be punished, I have _confiscated_, shall we say? Yes, I like that word. I have confiscated," he continued, "something dear to you, until you can learn to behave. Is all this understood, Ginevra?"_

"_You can't keep a child from his mother," she said matter-of-factly. "Who please tell me, will feed him? Who will play with him? And put him to bed?"_

_"Dear me, Ginny," Tom said in mock-surprise, "all of that can be replaced quite easily; I myself was given a bottle. And a Nanny can take care of all those other things." He leant over her, a superior look on his face, and he chucked her chin. "You see, Ginny, you are not needed."_

"_Yes, I am needed," she said loudly, "children need their mothers love, or else they'll turn out like you!"_

_He smiled gently, but in the firelight it made him look eerie and sinister. "Why do you say such things? Things that affect me so," she could tell he was mocking her, she didn't even have to look at him to realise that. "All I ask of you is another child, yet when I come to make love to you, you are not waiting for me on our bed, but hiding somewhere, being stubborn and insubordinate."_

"_Why should I do what you want all time?" she said indignantly._

"_Because, sweet Ginny," he murmured as he knelt before her, "I am the one with power over you, do you understand? I can take away all your privileges, just with a snap of my fingers." Tom was speaking so low now, that Ginny realised he was not playing around with her._

"_What 'privileges'?"_

"_Privileges such as being able to see your brother, being able to roan the manor when you please," he listed, "and being allowed to see our son." _

"_I'm his mother! You can't do that!" she shouted defiantly._

"_Oh, I can, and I'll tell you why," he said darkly, "because I am his father, and you seem to have forgotten that." Just then, cries broke the sudden silence between them. "Yes, Ginny," he said maliciously as her eyes widened, "he is just across the hall," and he grabbed her arm before she could run for the door, "and I'm taking away your other privileges as well, which means you shall stay here, locked up, until you can learn how to obey me."_

_Ginny stared up at him wide eyed. "You can't do that!" she said, her voice wavering tremulously._

_He looked down at her, still with a gentle smile, his hand running through her hair slowly. "You look lovely when you're lost from hope," he muttered desirously._

_She stepped closer to him, her hands on his chest, and her face down turned. "Please, don't do this, Tom," she pleaded, "I need my baby, please?"_

_Tom continued to smile, and held her face up to his; he noticed she was finally on the verge of genuine tears, and he stopped smiling. "You will learn to obey your husband like a wife should. You will learn to act as my wife, as I expect you to act. Do you understand?"_

"_I just… I want to see -."_

"_Do you understand?" he repeated firmly._

"_Yes," she whispered reluctantly._

"_Good girl," he said appraisingly, and he turned from her as tears spilled over her cheeks. Tom went into the bathroom, and Ginny heard the water running, so she ran for the door, and pulled down the handle hard, only for it to snap sharply back to its original position. "Now, you don't think I'm that foolish, do you, Ginevra?"_

_Ginny spun around hastily, wiping away her tears as he leant against that bathroom's doorframe, with only his trousers on. "No," she replied earnestly._

_They stood in silence for a while, until he held his hand out. "Come, come now, Ginny," he gestured, "there is no point in sulking, or trying to open the door, come on," he coaxed, smiling as she finally took his hand and led her into the bathroom. "Now, you can show me how obedient you can be…." _

Now, that just seemed nothing compared to Elizabeth being taken from her, because she had no idea where she was, what was happening to her. Ginny hated the feeling of dread in her stomach the most, it drove her crazy, she lost sleep over it, and resorted to sitting in Leo's room, watching over him as he slept in case anyone tried to take him away from her too. Sometimes she would think about how much he looked like Tom just to take her mind off the situation, or would wonder about what he would be like when he was older. It would only stave off the dread for a few minutes, because she would remember Elizabeth, and wonder whether she would actually make it to become older. That was where she was now, in Leo's room, watching over him as he drifted off to sleep.

"Mummy," he said quietly, "where is Lissy? She isn't back yet."

"I know, darling," she stroked the top of his head, and sat on the bed beside him, "Daddy's trying to find her, and bring her back, little one." He lay back down, satisfied with this answer, and closed his eyes. As soon as she realised he was asleep, a tapping sound on the window made her look up, and she jumped out of her seat instantly as she recognised the obsidian-coloured owl and wrenched the window open to allow the bird in. She took the letter from the owls' outstretched leg, and unfolded it in haste.

_Ginny,_

_I am unsure of how important this information is, but I will return immediately. You are vulnerable on your own, and it is_

_clear that this person has been using his servant to gain access to the manor, he could use it to his advantage again._

_So, I want you to get one of the house-elves, one that you know, and tell it to open my study; there is a dagger in my_

_desk. Take it, and use it if needs be, of course, until I return -._

"I'll be taking that, _my Lady_," a voice sneered dangerously behind her. Her body went rigid as she felt the tip of a wand dig sharply into her back, and the letter was snatched from her hands before she could read the rest of his message. "Now, no sudden movements, or I'll be forced to slit your pretty little throat, understood?" Ginny nodded her head frantically in reply, and looked desperately ahead of her. Why was this happening to her? She wasn't the one who went around killing people like it meant nothing, why was she being punished? Oh, it didn't matter anymore, she cared not a jot for herself, she just hoped this maniac would leave Leo alone. But, she hoped more for Tom, which was probably the first time she had ever wanted him to be there so desperately. "So… the Dark Lord will be arriving soon?" the man said, and she could tell it was a man, and he gave a low, and eerie sounding laugh. "Good… I will have years work complete within a day. _Stupefy!_"

Ginny slumped in her chair, the frightened look on her face relaxing as her eyes closed. Leo remained asleep, still unaware of the happenings surrounding him, yet if he was awake, he wouldn't understand either way….

"Zokori," the hooded man said sharply, a smirk touching his thin lips. "Bind her to the chair," he ordered as he studied the letter more closely. "It seems that Mistress Riddle here has touched upon our plot, Zokori, though only in its less malignant form, for once the Dark Lord arrives, _I_ will have control of this Empire when I have defeated him. He has become… soft," the man's smirk grew wider at this remark. "And, I have two children ready made for me to mould and shape."

"Master, what is Zokori to be doings with the boy?"

The man waved his hand airily, chuckling slightly. "Oh, don't bother with him," he said indifferently. "I don't think a little boy is going to ruin our plans, my loyal servant."

* * *

Ginny awoke with a groan; her neck ached, and her wrists felt like they were burning. She tried moving her hands, but was alarmed to find that they were bound together tightly, and that the bindings were causing the burning sensation around her wrists; then she remembered, her eyes adjusting to the darkness, that she had been _Stupified_ by a mysterious man, for what reasons she couldn't be certain but she had a feeling that that letter she found on her dressing table a few weeks back had something to do with it, and perhaps the man was the anonymous author of the letter. "Leo," she called out quietly, seeing his small figure still asleep under his bed covers. 

"Filthy Weasley is shutting up!" came a thin, and eerie voice from the shadows; but this shadow was creeping toward her quickly, and she felt a scream building up into her throat as it wrapped a hand around her neck. "Zokori is putting deafening charms on the boy, and you is being quiet!"

Ginny pressed down the urge to shriek in terror as the thing, she presumed was a House Elf, moved away from her, slinking back into the shadows and muttering to itself. Where was Tom when she needed him the most? Of course, he didn't know this, but it seemed that irony was playing a leading role in this part of her life at the moment, and it was beginning to annoy her; all she had wanted was to be with Harry, then she was snatched away and he was killed, then she had to settle for making sure her children remained safe, and now she couldn't even do that anymore; it was all Tom's fault, he ruined people's lives, and she was no exception. But, dammit, she actually _needed_ him to be Harry now; she needed him to be the one who rescued her from the man, and his monster. Although… there had to be a way she could save herself, and Leo at the same time.

Then it came to her; Leo had a wand, just one that could do a limited amount of spells, nothing fancy, and it was in his chest of drawers. But, how could she get to it? Though there wasn't enough time to think anymore as the door burst open, revealing the robed man in the moonlight, his face obscured by the lowered hood.

"It seems the Dark Lord has run into a few troubles with some remaining rebels," the man sneered. "Unfortunate; unfortunate because I wish to kill him, and you wish for him to kill me." The man sat down in an armchair by the covered fire grate, and summoned his servant to his side. "Fetch some drinks, Zokori. I feel we will be waiting for some time for the Dark Lord to arrive." The House Elf left the bedroom quickly, wanting to see to his Master's request as fastidiously as possible. "Now," he began, as if he were starting a most delightful conversation. "Don't you think it would be fitting if I were to reveal to the Dark Lord what his little wifey has been doing behind his back?"

"You don't know anything about me," she hissed angrily.

"Oh, I do, my Lady," he said in a quiet voice, one that was very sinister indeed, yet it seemed familiar somehow. "I know a great many things about your backstabbing; sneaking around, for what I am not entirely clear on just yet, and managing to dupe him simply by spreading your legs; I'll tell you it isn't as easy as it looks trying to fool the Dark Lord. Of course, being a man, I am at a disadvantage now, aren't I?"

"You don't know what you're talking about!" she said shrilly, becoming very worried if this man told Tom all her secrets; but he didn't know anything about the Contract, which he had made clear. If he were to know about it, he would reveal to Tom what she was planning to do with it; it wouldn't take a genius to figure out why she was searching for it.

"Ah… a 'contract'," the man whispered, causing her to stare open-mouthed at the cloaked figure. "And what does this contract contain? A magically binding Contract, is it?"

"Get out of my head, you bastard!" she shrieked, straining roughly against the bonds, causing her open wounds to tear again, and more blood to spill over the ropes and her fingers. "Who are you, anyway? What have I done to be treated like this? I'm not the one who goes around killing people!" She snarled angrily as she found there was no point in trying to break free of the tight ropes; Ginny usually wasn't one to give up in such situations, but this time she knew she needed to wait, and plan; bide her time, and wait for the opportune moment. And, if she were patient enough it would come sooner than expected. All she had to do was endure this mysterious figure.

"Oh, you haven't done anything," he replied simply, his cold voice taking on a well-known sarcasm. "It is merely down to the fact that you will cause His downfall; he will become angry at seeing you this way, his anger will blind him and I'll effectively kill him. Then I will kill you, perhaps I will spare your children's lives; your daughter is quite charming for a baby-."

"What have you done with my baby?!" she shouted, pulling the hardest against the ropes, and almost tearing them in her rage; it wasn't until the man's pale hand connected with her cheek that she stopped struggling and sat still, unable to nurse her sore cheek.

"Don't interrupt again," the man hissed. "I _will_ take your children, and raise them as my own; I shall need heirs for when I take over this ready-made Empire…" he said in a slow and steady voice, so sure of how his plan would turn out. "I shall have to thank the Dark Lord for that before I murder him. For becoming stupidly besotted for a pathetic excuse of a girl, for providing me with an Empire, and for easily forgetting his hatred for 'love'." The man laughed a cold laugh, his head falling to his chest as he chuckled. "And, to top it off, there is no Potter to come and rescue his former girlfriend; and that's all thanks to your husband."

"You will never take my children!" she whispered furiously, a complete and utter look of terrible loathing in her eyes. "Tom's followers would never join you!" Ginny hoped not anyway, but they were Slytherins, and it really wasn't in their nature to be loyal to a dead person, they found it hard enough to be loyal to a live person. She couldn't even comprehend why they had stayed so long with Tom in the first place; he was always torturing them, and even killing them sometimes. But, she supposed it was more out of fear that they stayed.

"It is, my Lady," the man said in a low voice. "The only attachment that keeps the Death Eaters connected with Lord Voldemort is because they fear his wrath, if they were to leave they would be tracked down, hunted, and tortured for being a deserter. Like the muggles in the World Wars," he stood up straight, his frame becoming authorative and even more domineering. "Although, some are truly attached to him, they do not stay out of fear, they stay because they want a share of his power, but they won't get it. I, on the other hand, will."

"And why is that?" she spat.

The hood drooped, telling her that he was looking down at her; she could just feel the sneer coming from him as spoke. "Because," he whispered dangerously, "nobody knows I exist. I've been forgotten…." The man cocked his head to the side suddenly, as if wondering about something. "Hmm, you know, I think I'll kill you first. I'll make the Dark Lord watch and his biggest fear, oh yes he fears, will become realised; he'll die a humiliating death, humiliating because he'll realise that loving you was a pitiful path to choose. Though, of course, none of this affects you really, because you don't love him, in fact, you hate his very being."

"That's not true," she said angrily, determined not to be found out, even though it seemed that she was going to die anyway.

"Ah, you are right." Ginny glared questionably up at him; what did he mean? "You don't loathe him as much as you once did… but you don't love him either." She remained silent now, not wanting to give him the satisfaction at hearing her scared ramblings. "Now, tell me about this 'contract', perhaps I can kill a few more Weasley's. I assume it has something to do with your half-wit brother?" She stayed quiet. "If you don't tell me, I can simply extract the information from your mind very painfully-."

"I won't tell you anything until you tell me where my daughter is!" she said defiantly.

"It is of no use to you," the man said arrogantly. "You won't need it where you're going."

" Why did you take her? Why not take me?" she said sadly.

"I'm sure the Dark Lord has put a Locator Charm on you, and it wouldn't do for my plan to be foiled by making one pointless mistake," the man explained generously, and Ginny was rather surprised by this. "And, of course, I would have taken your son, but I thought it would be more interesting to take the baby right out from under your noses. This made him leave, to find his daughter, leaving you completely exposed, and vulnerable; the Dark Lord's weakness…."

Just then, the loud, and harsh sound of a House Elf Apparating echoed throughout the bedroom. "Master!" it was that creepy House Elf again, and Ginny could see his ugly features fully; he was frightened about something. Perhaps Tom had arrived after all. "Master! The House Elves is being wild! Master must come quick!" OK, maybe not Tom, but perhaps this would provide her with a distraction all the same. "They is throwing bottles at me when I am getting Master's drink, they is having knives!"

"Where are they?" the man said frustrated.

"They is storming the whole house!" he replied, turning around to the door and pressing his large ear to the door, listening to see if any were outside causing complete mayhem and havoc. "There is being hundreds of them, Master must stop them! I will show Master where they is being last."

The man gave an infuriated growl, slamming his hands on the chest of drawers in anger. "You stay right where you are, if you move, I will kill your son," he threatened callously, and he left the room with his House Elf, she heard the lock on the door click from the outside. It was all right, she didn't need to get outside the room; all she needed was to get that wand that was so neatly tucked in the middle drawer of Leo's chest of drawers.

Just then, as she was about to stand up, she heard the shrieks, and shrill laughter of the House Elves; she tried to suppress a laugh, but failed miserably as she stood awkwardly due to her arms firmly pressed against the chair. If she could just move her arms up slightly, the chair would drop; she did just that, but the chair didn't budge. Instead, she resolved that she would have to free herself this way.

She went over to the drawers, turning around so she could grip the handle, and pulled the drawer open very gently so as not to make any loud noises, even though the House Elves were making enough noise to cause the roof to crumble in. Her fingers fumbled around for the wand, and she almost shrieked with happiness as her fingers touched the smooth and polished wood; now she had to make sure she had the right end. Looking over her shoulder was simple enough, and she positioned the wand pointing at the bindings, and muttered '_Severitus_'. It was as if the spell hadn't worked, until a moment later, she felt her hands free from the rope, and the chair banged to the ground with a _thud! _And she stood up straight again, immediately rubbing her sore, and torn wrists, wincing as she touched the open wounds. Ginny presumed that the spell didn't happen straight away because she hadn't used magic in a long time; but, it felt good, it felt good using magic again…. She felt powerful with the wand in her hand, but she knew she couldn't do much with it; she sighed at this, and reminded herself that she couldn't just stand there wasting time.

She turned to the door, and said "_Alohamora!_" very quietly, and waited for the lock to click open; but it never came. Ginny was sure that it was nothing to do with the fact that she hadn't used magic in a long time because that spell was very simple, so it could only mean that the man had used a different, and possibly darker spell, which would require much more advanced magic than a simple Alohamora. But, the wand, she reminded herself again, was very limited in the amount of spells it could do.

"_Finite Incantatem!"_ she whispered sharply, the wand pointing at Leo and removing the charm they had placed on him. "Leo," she said quietly, but loud enough to wake him up, and he whined softly. "Leo, you have to wake up, there's bad people in the house."

"Mummy," he whined again. "I tired…." He shut his eyes again and seemed to be fallen back to sleep, but Ginny wasn't going to allow it.

"Leo, you will wake up this instant," she said firmly. "Or you'll be in big trouble." She didn't feel bad, this was a matter of life and death and she wasn't going to die just because he was tired! "Do you want your father angry with you, Leo?"

"No!" he said loudly, sitting up quickly, and reaching out for Ginny to hold him.

"There are bad people here, Leo," she explained gently. "But, we'll be OK if you keep quiet. If you don't they'll kill me, do you understand? They'll hurt me very badly-."

"No, I make you safe, Mummy," he said in a determined manner. "No one hurt you."

Ginny smiled gently, and stroked his head. "We still need to get out of here, come on, darling." She took his hand, and helped him out of bed to lead him over to the window; it seemed to be the only way they could escape other than the door, which was locked, and they weren't that far up, there bones wouldn't be broken from that height though maybe only a few cuts and bruises. "We are going to jump out of the window, OK?" she said softly, trying to soothe him in case he began panicking, but he didn't seem to be scared at all. "I'll go first so that I can catch you, all right?"

He looked up at her and nodded, but then frowned slightly. "Where is Daddy?"

"The bad people made him go away," she whispered.

"But, why?"

"Because, the bad people want to hurt him, darling," she replied, bending down and stroking the side of his head gently. "You don't understand yet, but Daddy is a bad person too, that's why they want to hurt him… but you mustn't tell Daddy I said that, or he'll be angry at me; if we ever get away that is." Ginny stood up straight again, and used the wand to open the window, and it swung on its hinges. "I will call up to you, Leo, OK? When I call up to you, you must jump down, and not be afraid, do you understand?"

"I'm not afraid, Mummy," he said staunchly.

"You're a good boy," she said gently, stroking his face.

"Yes, and you're a naughty little bitch!" came a hard, and very, very angry voice, and she gasped as a hand gripped her bleeding wrist cruelly, wrenching her away from Leo, and slapped her callously across the face. She fell to the floor, unmoving. "You aren't going _anywhere_, you conniving, pathetic wench!"

* * *

**Amalia Bradley:** You'll have to wait until the next chapter to see if they find Elizabeth, or the chapter after that. I'm really evil…. 

**PurpleRainbow:** Tom didn't think of it, because he forgets the little things, and moves onto the bigger things, like he does in CoS; he calls Fawkes a mere 'songbird', but doesn't seem to think, or remember, that this animal can save Harry from death with it's tears. There are other examples; I just can't remember them from of the top of my head.

**Graceful kitten:** Is grateful for hug, and not receiving a slap. :D

**SailorHecate:** It was hard to write Ginny like this, and I didn't think I did it very well, but obviously I was wrong because you liked it.

**Corpsexbride:** And, again, "thank hell for house elves."

**Darkness is me:** Welcome to the SHIP, and I hope you enjoy the rest of my fic. And, if you haven't already, read 'Warfare', that's the prequel to this fic.

**Crystalshard:** They can be changed, if Ginny realises that they aren't dreams. But, I'm not saying if that particular one comes true. Though, we will be seeing more of an intolerant Tom again, because I enjoy writing him like that; really nasty, because I'm a bit evil to Ginny sometimes. )

Anyway, thanks to everyone for reviewing, and please review this one! Also, if you want updates on further chapter writing then go to my LJ, I'll be posting updates whenever I start writing the next chapter and I'll be posting a few cookies. And I really don't want to go through my entire Story Alert list again to update everyone on a new cookie. Anyways, Merry Christmas! Oh, and I called the chapter House Elves, because I didn't want to give too much away since the original title was going to be 'Intruders'.

* * *


	13. First Blood

**Disclaimer:** I do not own any of the spells, characters (apart from Leo and Elizabeth), or situations herein. Credit to JKRowling and whoever else owns the HP books.

**Warning:** There are descriptions of blood loss, limb amputation and general violence within, so just be warned, it really isn't too graphic.

**LIFE AFTER DEATH:**

**Chapter Thirteen: First Blood.**

"That's her taken care of," the man muttered to himself, a hint of a laugh behind his voice as he turned his gaze to the small boy. He was the spitting image of his father, except for the fact that the boy was leaning over his mother and crying, and the Dark Lord never cried. It was quite amusing when he thought about it, the image of the Dark Lord breaking down at the sight of the fallen redhead. His outrage would be quite magnificent, he couldn't see him remaining calm since he had been outsmarted, and his failure would lead to the girls' destruction. Revenge was sweet, especially since he was going to gain an entire army out of it.

"Mummy? Mummy?" Leo repeated over and over as he tried to shake Ginny awake, but to no avail.

"Step away from her now, boy," he ordered coldly, "she won't wake for a while. Now, move." He drew his wand from his robes and pointed it straight at Leo with a threatening glint in his eyes.

Leo still didn't budge, he wanted to stay near his mother, even though she was unconscious he still felt safer being near her. "No!" he said stubbornly. "You hurt my Mummy!"

He was about to curse the boy until Zokori, his House Elf, entered the bedroom looking overly alert and greatly distressed. "M-Master…" he said breathlessly, waving his long, green finger feverishly behind him, "the Dark Lord is arriving!"

"Ah! Excellent!" the man said triumphantly. "Things are finally falling into place… now, Zokori," he said commandingly, making the House Elf stand to attention, "I give you permission to use your magic, go and deal with those other house elves."

"Yes, Master."

Once the vile House Elf had left the room, he turned back to Leo, who still clung to his mother side desperately. "I told you to move away from her, now!" he shouted, and it made Leo jump with surprise, but all he did was glare back at the hooded man once recovered from the shock. "You choose to be insolent, then I'll punish your mother instead!" He lifted his wand again with sharp precision, and shouted "_Crucio_!"

Ginny's unconscious body began writhing terribly, her limbs moving in a nightmarish, disjointed fashion. Leo could only look upon his comatose mother in unmasked horror, and it wasn't until Ginny began screaming in her inert state that Leo leapt into action.

"Stop it!" he screamed. "Leave my Mummy _alone_!"

The whole atmosphere of the room began changing in that single moment as Leo stood by his mother snarling at the man with absolute contempt ridden into his features. Things started flying about the room, objects of blunt and sharp nature swirling dangerously about them, windows smashed, and the air smelled like an electrifying storm was about to unleash its unmerciful wrath upon them.

But, the hooded man disregarded it all and laughed shrilly, as if he hadn't laughed in along time and his voice box wasn't used to the effort. "What are you going to do? Kick me in the shin? You're just a little boy!" he ridiculed scornfully, laughing again as he bellowed another "_Crucio_!" at Ginny.

Leo screamed "stop it!" again as Ginny's disjointed movements continued with even more fervour. A red glow suddenly surrounded the child, his anger increasing with every second that Ginny was in pain, and when the mans' shrill, cold laughter pitched, Leo roared with rage and ran the black-cladded man daringly.

At first he was quite shocked at the boys' reaction, but he quickly gathered himself and flung a Stunning Curse at the charging child. "Merlin!" the man gasped in awe as his spell bounced off Leo as if it were nothing but a fly, and it was thrown at the wardrobe, making it burst open and splinter fiercely.

"You won't hurt my Mummy!" Leo snarled.

"You can't do anything to me!" the man said as if offended, but there was doubt in his tone, and it made him remember that, even though the boy was soft, he was still the Dark Lord's son and that made him a descendant of Salazar Slytherin; of course his magic would be powerful, however dormant it was! "I'll kill your mother, boy!" he shouted. "So, step back! _Avada Keda_ - !"

Leo ran faster, and screeched a deafening cry, and the last thing the man saw was a blinding flash of white light as he was thrown full force into the wall behind him, a resounding crack thumping through his head. Leo was thrown back too, but he landed right by Ginny, unconscious with an unaware and innocent face once again.

The room settled into its original state of calmness, and the objects that had been zooming about the air above the three immediately clattered back to the ground; a wooden brush hit Leo's shin, a velvet and satin pillow fell onto the disguised mans' head, and a few of Ginny's toilette items fell onto her abdomen. The splintered wardrobe was in absolute ruin, with all of Tom's cloaks, suits, and dinner jackets strewn about the room as if they had been simply discarded without a moments thought. Despite the powerful activity of the room having completely ceased in tune with Leo's consciousness, there was one thing in the bedroom which still quivered with life, and that was the man who caused all the mess.

He was shuddering against the hard wall, but not because he was cold or scared, he was shuddering with raw anger, and he was going to direct it at the unaware boy. _How dare he?_ he thought vehemently._ A mere boy attacking someone of my power like that!_ He got to his feet with some needed effort, and he soon realised that his left arm was broken with a dissatisfied grunt, and his right ankle felt twisted. _No matter, I won__'__t need them to use my wand._

"You little brat…" he growled maliciously, his pale face contorted with an ugly, murderous look as he limped awkwardly over to the boy. _How could he feel so weak?! How could a boy of his age have power like that?! He could become more powerful than the Dark Lord__…__ his own father__…__ well, I__'__ll just have to eradicate this problem right now, along with his harridan of a mother._ "It's a shame," the man said sibilantly, a smug edge to his tone as he stood tall over the much smaller child. He raised his wand slowly, the way a masked executioner lifted their sharp, deadly axe before striking with the killer blow, preparing to murder the boy with a slick twist of his wrist; quick, painless, but effective. "It _is_ a shame…" he repeated, stalling his wand as if contemplating mercy, "such a powerful child, I would have liked to have raised you as my own, along with your sister, but you are too dangerous… you could turn on me and I shall not risk that…. You will die, by my hand! _Avada _- !"

"_Relashio_!" shouted another voice, and a jet of red, stinging sparks flew straight at the man and struck his arm with searing heat. He staggered back, a strange sound in his throat as he dropped his wand and saw his own blood seep out of the wound that appeared on his arm. "I wouldn't do that if I were you, Snape!"

The man paused his movements to retrieve his wand, and felt around his head; his hood had fallen from his face. _No matter_, he thought, _that bastard may have surprised me, but he__'__ll regret it!_ "Hmm," he scoffed, "you finally made it then? Well, you're too late…" he sneered coldly.

Tom moved into the bedroom and glanced at where Ginny and Leo were laying motionless, but he knew they weren't dead, he had seen enough to confirm that. "I don't think so, you pathetic excuse for a wizard," Tom laughed his sharp, cruel laugh. "Felled by a boy!"

Snape's face muscle twitched, a vein in his head throbbing with anger at Tom's insult, but he calmed himself, the Dark Lord was the one who should be fuming. Now, he merely smirked back at his enemy. "I'll admit, the boy took me by surprise," he conceded, "but when he turns that power on you, you won't be laughing as easily as you do now!"

"The child won't turn on me," Tom replied surely, his cool smirk mirroring Snape's. " I am his… role model, shall we say?"

Snape laughed this time, but it was dark and mocking. "Until your little redheaded Weasel over there turns him," he snarled persistently. "Oh, I am the Great Traitor, but she is so much more, why she could have been a Slytherin."

"Ginny is loyal to me," Tom muttered, standing more serious now. "She obeys me, she can't hide _anything_ from me."

"So soft… so soft, it's quite a shame, really," Snape said derisively. "Little Miss Weasley over there would have been the cause for your downfall," he said slowly, keeping the Dark Lord's attention until he was sure his ankle was better, "had I not stepped in for her!" He picked up his wand in a quick flash, and shouted a curse.

Tom yelled "_Protego_!" and the purple light heading for him rebounded and struck the four-poster, causing it to burst into flames. He sneered vexedly and shot his own violent curse in Snape's direction, and within a few minutes they were in the midst of an all out duel, the winner only coming out with his life.

The room was amass with flashing lights, explosions, and smoke coming from all directions of destruction caused by rebounded curses. Ginny and Leo still remained unconscious, their skin blackened with the fire's smoke, and a few cuts from splintered wood, but somehow they were still unharmed. Tom noticed his wife and son again, and managed to get his shoulder slashed by one of Snape's hexes.

"Damn!" he snapped, ignoring the blood splashing down his arm as he fired the Blasting Curse at his opponent, who easily dodged it, but had moved away from the prone figures of Ginny and Leo. Tom smirked and fired the same curse again and again until they had both circled the room, leaving Tom in Snape's place, and Snape in Tom's.

"Ha! You can't protect them and fight me at the same time" he roared with laughter, and Tom saw his opening; all was fair in love and war, and in this case, striking when his enemy was acting like a fool.

"_Impedimenta_!" he yelled, the force of his jinx and the hatred of the person he was casting it at made it all the more powerful, and Snape was sent flying into the oak chest of drawers, which he smashed painfully through. Tom lifted his wand again to cast the Killing Curse, but then he remembered that he needed the location of Elizabeth. He faced Ginny and Leo instead, and muttered "_Mobilicorpus_." He watched their sleeping bodies float up into standing position away from the hot flames, and into the guarded corner of the room. "_Protego Totalum_," he hissed. And once he was sure they were safe, he slashed his wand through the air in the direction of the bed and the flames immediately ceased.

Snape groaned, and shook his head, thankful that he hadn't landed on his broken arm, and he shook his head to try and get rid of the dizziness. _How could I have let my guard down like that? Well, he won__'__t get lucky again!_ He used his wand to remove the pieces of broken wood off himself and wondered in amazement how his back hadn't broken.

"Come on and get up, already! Tom said impatiently, the look on his face haughty and scornful. "I've decided to have a little fun with you, it's been a while since I've had a duel with an able opponent."

Snape finally pushed himself up into standing position with a leering face and a contemptuous stance. "Your cavalier attitude shall be the end of you, you'll regret allowing me to time to recover," he sneered. And with a quick slashing movement, his wand shot out another deadly, unearthly purple light, but Tom quickly threw the spell aside with a simple flick.

"Is that all?" Tom said dismissively, and he flicked his wand once more, issuing another set of fiery red sparks zooming towards Snape, who deflected the spell as easily as Tom had done.

Snape's face lit up then with a sudden realisation as he continued to throw aside Tom's spells. "Come on," he goaded, "_you_ could do better than that," he taunted, throwing his own hex. "Or you're not planning to kill me, eh? Of course, you want to know where your precious daughter is!" Tom snarled in response and threw another Impediment Jinx at his enemy, but this time Snape rebounded it back, and the curse hit Tom with full force, flinging him against the wall just as painfully as Snape. "The only problem is," laughed Snape harshly, "I'm duelling to kill!"

Tom staggered to his feet, recovering quicker than Snape had, and he looked up in just enough time to see furious, blazing flames shoot out of the end of his opponent's wand. The fire roared, blowing ash everywhere as it galloped toward him with amazing speed in the form of a Chimaera, eating everything flammable in its path. The heat of it was almost unbearable, and for the first time in his life, Tom felt the need to scream. _There isn__'__t enough time to repel it!_

The fire drew closer, the Chimaera bellowing ferociously as the flames licked at his flesh painfully. Then, suddenly, "_Protego horriblis_!" The flames rushed through Tom, swallowing him up as the fire blasted through the wall of the manor, a sudden rush of wind blowing the smoke and dust all about the bedroom.

Snape smirked once there was no sign of the enemy, and muttered that counter-curse, the Chimaera disappeared mid-flight in an instant as the caster stood triumphantly. "And so I win," he muttered. "Foolishly, but a win all the same."

"I wouldn't start celebrating just yet, Severus!" Tom's voice came sharp and enraged from somewhere in the thick fog of smoke and ash. "It'll take more than Fiendfyre to get ride of me!" And before Snape knew what was happening a blue light blasted through the dust and sliced cleanly through his broken, left arm.

An ear-splitting scream pierced the air as Snape's arm thumped pathetically to the floor, blood spurting messily over the ground and pooling into a puddle. Tom's cruel laugh rang throughout the bedroom as Snape's screams ceased to be replaced by low and painful erratic panting. "I may not be aiming to kill, but I can remove all your limbs until you beg for mercy," he sneered murderously as he stepped out of the smoke and moved toward the wounded Snape, who still held his wand tightly, his only lifeline.

He laughed still, jerkily so, but it ended in coughing up blood. "You should have aimed for this arm… _Sectumsempra_!"

Tom stared in bewilderment. "'Sectum' what? Ahh!" he shouted with pain as the spell connected with only his side, but a couple of gashes were agonising enough coupled with the stinging after effect.

"Dammit! I missed!" Snape hissed as he watched Tom's blood merely trickle; the cuts weren't deep enough. _That should have been enough_, his mind panicked, _that child__'__s blow must have weakened me more than I thought!_

"So…" Tom growled, "you've got a few tricks, well, so do I, and you'll regret using that curse!" But, before Tom could complete his own spell, Snape twirled his wand hastily and screamed his hex, and army of arrows shot out dangerously towards Tom, who quickly dodged them, and threw his curse back at him, the duel getting back into full flow once more.

In the far corner of the bedroom, Ginny was slowly starting to wake, her eyes flying open as she heard explosions and smelt smoke. She groaned as she tried to sit up, her muscles were aching all over for some unidentified reason, but she lifted herself all the same, and she saw Tom duelling… he was duelling Professor Snape! Yet, somehow, she wasn't really surprised, and there wasn't time to dwell on the revealed identity anyway. She gasped then as she saw Leo laying a few centimetres away from her, and blanched as she didn't remember him being asleep. She crawled over to him and checked his pulse, sighing in relief as she found that he was still alive.

Ginny held him in her arms, and stroked his head lovingly; she could only imagine what had happened while she lay on the floor, helpless. Then her gaze went back to the heated duel going on in front of her; neither one seemed to be letting up. But, did she really want to Tom to win anyway? Didn't she want him dead? Yet, if Tom died, she surmised, that would mean she would also perish, and that simply couldn't happen because her children needed her, Ron and Hermione needed her!

She resolved herself, and stood with determination. She had to help Tom.

The duel was escalating, and Snape wasn't sure whether he could hold out for much longer, it was time to end this and use the Killing Curse, if he could… but then he had a sudden, cunning and brilliant idea, he couldn't believe he had forgotten about it! He swirled his wand as if painting a fine picture, and suddenly a bright, blinding flash of white light enveloped Tom, whose eyes widened at this unknown spell.

Tom gasped, panicking again at this surprise attack, it was another one of Snape's tricks! But it was too late, the spell had done its job, the light had rendered Tom blind to everything coming his way, including the green light of the Killing Curse! "And, now you will die!" Snape bellowed dramatically. "Ha, I don't even know why I didn't think of that in the beginning. _Avada Keda_ - ahhh!"

Snape's screams tore through the air again, but they sounded strange and gurgled, as if he was screaming through liquid. "What the hell?" Tom barked, and he heard Snape roar "y-you… wench…! How dare - ah - you…!" His voice choked suddenly but there was fear behind the bitter tone, and Tom could imagine him clutching at his throat in desperation, it sounded like he was being strangled or something.

Then all noise stopped after the sound of sharp breath expelling a desperate gurgle, and then a thump reached Tom's hearing, and the bright light began to subsidise, his vision returning when he heard another sound, a sob. "G-Ginny?" he said unsurely, and he staggered forward, blinking rapidly to get rid of the green and blue spots flashing in front of his eyes.

Sure enough, there sat Ginny beside the lifeless body of Severus Snape in a heap and crying violently; there was an arrow pierced through his pale neck, straight through his jugular, with blood pouring rapidly out of the fatal wound. Tom stared down at Ginny with admiration, it was her first kill and he hadn't even witnessed it, but he could see the after effects. She was spattered with that worthless scum's blood.

He kneeled beside her and placed his hand on her shoulder, ignoring the dull pain in his, but she flinched sharply away from him, sobbing even harder. "Ginny, it's me, Tom," he said clearly, moving over to her again, and she looked up at him, sniffing, both their faces covered in ash, but hers had tear stains running down her cheeks.

"I-I killed… P-Professor Sn-Snape…" she said weakly.

"I know," he replied softly, drawing her close, and having blood on her conscience seemed to make her all the more appealing to him. Now, she could understand and relate with him. "And if you hadn't," he murmured, "he would have killed the children, so don't cry over it."

Ginny looked over at Snape with wide eyes, and clutched at Tom, her body falling against his, forgetting his words. "H-How could I…?" she whispered, new tears falling and splashing onto Tom's dirty shirt. "I killed another p-person…."

"Ginny, if you hadn't killed him, you would have died," Tom said soothingly, "he would have taken Leo and slit his throat mercilessly." Ginny recoiled at the violent imagery, but looked up at him again. "Now we'll be able to find Elizabeth."

"L-Lizzy?" she said as if just remembering. "Oh… my poor baby…" she rested her head against Tom's chest, and cried now for a different reason; what if Lizzy was dead? Snape could have been lying to her for all she knew. "We have to find her quickly, Tom!"

He stood then, holding Ginny up with him as he became more serious. "It'll be easier to locate her now, the caster of the spell is dead," Tom muttered firmly, "only I was planning to get the location out of him." He gestured to Snape's lifeless body, which seemed even whiter than before.

Ginny stared sorrowfully, but Tom guessed that it was less to do with killing Snape and more to do with locating their missing daughter, but then her eyes lit up. "No, he brought his House Elf with him, he went off with Snape to take care of our house elves. They were fighting," Ginny explained at Tom's questioning look. "He'll know where Lizzy is!" she said excitedly.

Tom looked down at her appreciatively, and stroked the side of her face, before pulling her in for a fiery kiss, and Ginny forgot all about the body on the floor and kissed Tom back, his hands pulled her body closer to his and hers settled around his neck as they celebrated the end of that nightmare together. But, it wasn't over just yet, they hadn't got Elizabeth back yet. Tom withdrew from Ginny, and smirked his triumphant smirk as he revelled in Ginny's murderous capabilities.

"What about Leo? I don't know what happened… but, he's unconscious," Ginny said quietly, worriedly. "I seemed to have missed a lot."

Tom scoffed. "You did," he muttered as he walked over to Leo, "you did." He picked his son up with ease, and with a proud air as he handed him over to Ginny, who held him close. "Don't worry, he'll be fine, I'll get Lucius to send a medic over while I find this House Elf."

"Tom, he isn't going to betray his Master though, is he?" Ginny said doubtfully. "He _is_ a House Elf."

"Everybody has a price. Even house elves," Tom replied smugly.

Ginny nodded shortly. "What are you going to do if you get the location?"

"_When_ I get the location, I will gather some of my followers, just in case, and retrieve our daughter," he stated, "and bring her back to your waiting arms." He lifted his wand at her suddenly. "_Scourgify,__"_he muttered, and he smirked, "that's better." Ginny looked down at herself and Leo, they were clean again, and she watched Tom say the spell again with the wand pointed at himself. The effects were instantaneous. "I should get going. Take him to bed, Ginny." He kissed her once more, and sprinted from the bedroom in haste.

Ginny stared after him, then sighed, finally, she was going to have her baby back. Before leaving the demolished room, she looked back at the white figure of her former Potions Professor and whispered "I'm so sorry…."

---------------------------------------------------

Lizzy had been found in a battered cradle at the location the House Elf had choked out, his big, yellow eyes bulging as he betrayed his dead Master. From what Ginny could gather, the place was a desolate, and uninhabitable house on the outskirts of East London, just by the River Thames. But, the little baby was completely healthy, and as happy as when Ginny had last saw her, which made her just as happy as the child.

Tom had returned to the Manor, with Lizzy against his chest, looking like some sort of twisted, dark hero, especially with the red raw gash on his once flawless cheek. But, Ginny only had eyes for her daughter once she was placed into her arms; she supposed it would have been a touching scene were it not for Leo lying unconscious in his bedroom still, for reasons she wasn't entirely clear on. All she knew was that when Leo had finally woken up, Tom patted him on the head and looked upon him proudly, the way a father should look at their son. She had almost cried with joy upon witnessing that.

That was why, a few weeks later, she was questioning whether she could really go through with Hermione's plan. She did want her brother and friend to be free, of course she did, and she wanted Tom's reign of terror to come to an end, but whether she wanted it to result in his death… she didn't know. But, there were so many other things involved, people were involved, namely her children. Leo had been desperate for his fathers' attention, she didn't know if she could just take that away from him now that he had it, and then Lizzy would never even know him. Then she wondered whether she really wanted them to know Tom, to recognise him as their father. Was he really deserving of his children? _No_, she thought, _he really wasn__'__t_. But, it wasn't her right to decide for her children, even though she was their mother.

There were other things too. He seemed to be changing for the better, he hadn't ruined any families for a while as far as she knew, and the last time he'd left a city in ruins was about a year ago. It still didn't excuse his behaviour though. But, when Lizzy had been taken from them, he was the only thing which seemed to make any sense, he'd been the proper husband and consoled her when she needed to be consoled, he held her when she needed to be held. He'd returned Lizzy to her waiting arms just like he promised, and had even acted like a proper father throughout the whole ordeal.

But, Tom was still Lord Voldemort, for he could be the nicest person when he wanted to be, but whenever he lost his patience with her, she'd get a glimpse of the tyrant that lived within him, his true self. He was always 'Tom' to her, but she knew that once killing was involved, he was 'Lord Voldemort' to everyone else. Reckless, homicidal, practically a maniac. But, there was always going to be 'buts', he'd ensured that when he made her become pregnant, he knew her well enough to believe that she'd question herself if she ever thought of betraying him.

He was a sly, sly, Slytherin bastard.

_Yet_, she thought with a wry smile, _I can't even resist him sometimes_…. He had walked past her eyesight when she thought that, and had given her a devilish smirk. She turned away from him so her back faced him as he sifted through some items in the drawer of his bedside table.

"Tired, Ginny?" he questioned in a casual voice.

"Yes, a bit," she lied, her back still to him.

"Oh, that's a shame," he said sardonically. Ginny rolled her eyes, he probably just wanted to sleep with her, not that her voicing her drowsiness had ever stopped him before. "Your brother and the Mudblood," she sighed irritably, "have just completed their first mission, and were wondering whether they could see you. But, if you're too tired, they'll just have to wait until the end of their second mission."

"What? Oh, no, I'm not _that_ tired," she said brightly, sitting up again to look at him.

"No, you need to rest if you are tired," he said, and she could see with some frustration the playful glint in his cold blue eyes. "Lizzy will probably wake during the night, then you'll be tired for breakfast tomorrow."

"I really don't mind, Tom," Ginny insisted with a smile.

"But, wouldn't you rather spend some time with our daughter?" he said pointedly, and she could already see the shadow of a smirk at the corner of his mouth. "After all, she has only been returned to us recently."

"She is sleeping at the moment," Ginny replied, having to bite her tongue to stop herself from saying something really insolent. "And, I'll have to wait until they return again, and Merlin knows how long that's going to be. Lizzy won't even know I'm gone."

"Perhaps our son will benefit from a visit from his mother instead?" he questioned, the look on his face knowing she was growing impatient.

"I read to him this afternoon, Tom," she said exasperatedly. "Will you please just let me visit them? I won't come back late, I promise."

His smirk finally crossed his mouth, and once he was sure that he had Ginny in the palm of his hand, he nodded. "Fine, you may visit them," he said clearly.

"Thank you," she sighed in relief.

"My pleasure, Ginevra, there is a carriage waiting outside for you." He grabbed her arm before she could leave the room, and pulled her to him. "Don't be _late_," he ordered.

"I won't," and to ensure her departure, she reached up and kissed him gently on the lips. "Bye, Tom."

-------------------------------------------------------

Ginny stepped out of the wooden oak carriage, the footman took her hand as she stepped down onto the gravel driveway that led to the door of Ron and Hermione's house. The garden looked as though it was being cared for since her last visit when the grass had been near brown, and the plants had been lifeless. The small, square house looked in better shape too, and it seemed as though it had been repainted.

The portly looking footman bashed the ugly-shaped door knocker three times before standing back a bit behind Ginny. The butler answered the door after a few moments, and gestured them inside. "Wait by the carriage, Howell," Ginny instructed in a gentle voice. "I'm not going to be too long."

"Yes, my Lady," he replied, bowing elaborately before making his way back to the carriage.

Ginny stepped inside house, and took off her cloak, and before she knew what was happenning, she was being Rugby-tackled by Ron, who squeezing so tightly she thought she would burst. "I... can't... breathe, Ron!" she choked.

"Sorry, Gin," he said sheepishly, letting go of her. "Hermione and I heard about Snape, and we just didn't know whether you were OK or not. Besides, you don't visit that much anymore..."

"Well, I have been busy, even though you might not think so, but I can't find that stupid Contract, anywhere," she said irritably. "And then, Snape comes along and kidnaps my daughter, so, as you can see, I've been distracted."

"Hi, Ginny," another voice rang through the hallway, and further down, poking her bushy head out round a doorframe, was Hermione. Ginny repeated the greeting back as Hermione came out from the room she had been occupying, and hugged Ginny almost as tightly as Ron had. "I was really worried... When we heard about Snape trying to kill you, I lost my head a bit," she said with a weak smile, then she straightened up. "If only he could have helped us out before going insane, and then he had to go and get himself killed by the Dark Lord; as if he stood a chance."

Ginny grinned at the last part, obviously that was what the Contract had made her say. But, then she realised what Hermione had said just before that; _"get himself killed by the Dark Lord."_ She had killed Snape, not Tom... she guessed that he had been telling all his followers that he had done the deed, and she didn't really care, she didn't want anything to do with murder anymore. But, should she tell Ron and Hermione, they were family, yet she did not think that she could handle the looks on their faces if she did admit to it. She sighed, and decided that she would just continue to let them believe it was all Tom's handiwork.

"Snape's always been insane," Ron replied to Hermione's comment in a distasteful tone, proving that any mention of the old Potions professor could still bring forth the sour look occupying his face at the very moment; it was rather funny when Ginny looked close enough. "Anyway, I don't care if he would've offered his help because I wouldn't accept it; he _betrayed_ us, if you don't remember."

"Look, we can't stand around nattering," Ginny said insistently. "I've got to back soon."

"Ginny's right," Hermione muttered, "let's sit in the living room." They went through the door closest to the front door, and sat on the plump, soft-looking chairs before speaking again.

"Tom said that you just came back from a mission," Ginny began quietly, looking to both of them curiously since they seemed to have become startled at her choice of conversation. "What's wrong?" she said nervously. "Ron? H-Hermione?"

"Ron looked down, and she noticed his body tense up. "That's right," he said through gritted teeth. "He sent us on a mission... but -."

"B-But, we aren't allowed to talk about it," Hermione whispered, and for all that she tried to hide it, she looked ashamed.

"What did he make you do?" Ginny said worriedly, but she shook her head; they couldn't tell her even if they wanted to. "Whatever it is, is it really worth all this, is it really worth trying to defeat Tom?"

They both looked at her, Ron's eyes angry as though he wanted to profess his absolute and utter loathing of the man he was forced to call 'Master'. Hermione's were just desperate, also calling out to Ginny and saying to her what her mouth could not. She felt so sorry for them all of a sudden and wondered whether they would have been better off dying that fateful night. Whatever Ginny thought about her situation with Tom, it had to be a whole lot better than how Ron and Hermione were tied to him. Tom could make them murder people if he wanted to... _Perhaps_, she thought, _that's what their mission was_...

"I-If he forced you to..." she swallowed loudly, trying to stop herself from crying, "k-kill people, it's not your fault, you have to obey him or you'll die yourself. You couldn't have known that he would make you do such a thing." _At least you didn't kill someone of your own free will._

They sat in silence for a few moments, Ron and Hermione mulling over Ginny's words until they felt ready to talk properly again, and Ginny was thinking about how cruel Tom could really be. She couldn't believe she had forgotten how nasty he was.

Ron coughed nervously. "W-Well," he began once more, making the two women look up at him, "let's not talk about that anymore. Hermione and I have something important to tell you about the Contract." All three leaned in closer to each other in a secretive fashion. "See, we can talk about it now since he has changed the whereabouts of it."

"What...?" Ginny said dumbly. "Why didn't you _say_ something as soon as you saw me, you dolt?!"

Ron flinched. "S-Sorry."

"We can talk about it," Hermione interjected, "but not about where it is. Because we can't betray our... _Master's wishes..._" she ground out.

"What, you mean you actually _know_ where it is?" Ginny gasped excitedly.

"Yeah," Ron answered, "we were there when he hid it, we _had_ to be there when he hid it."

"You were there?" she said in bewilderment. "How strange..."

"We can also tell you that... unfortunately, it's not a piece of paper anymore," Hermione sighed, but Ginny couldn't see anything in her eyes that could suggest where it could be. "But," she looked worriedly at Ron, "it can still be destroyed."

Ron nodded in a solemn manner, and Ginny wondered why they seemed so sad about the Contract being broken; she could only put it down to having to act like it would be a sad occurence or something of that nature. And it was confusing; it wasn't a sheet of paper anymore, but it could still destroyed... that could only mean that it was another object.

"Hermione said that there are still loopholes," Ron added, "it's still the same Contract, you just can't see the writing and parchment. Anyway, it means we can give you clues _about_ it, but they have to be very subtle..."

"That's right," Hermione said seriously, her gaze fixed on Ginny. "That means you have to listen carefully to everything we say, and watch what we do as well, because we could be giving you hints. We've already given you some."

Ginny gaped at her. "Y-You have?" she said, her ears turning pink. "Oh... I guess I'd better go over the conversation again. But, first, can you tell me whether it's in the Manor?"

"It's not in the Manor," Ron replied.

"Could it be an object then, if not a piece of parchment?"

"Obviously," Hermione answered exasperatedly. "If it's not paper anymore, _and_ it can still be destroyed physically, then it's got to be something you can touch."

Ginny thought for a moment to herself, then realised something that made her a bit uneasy. "Tom didn't tell he'd changed the Contract," she said quietly, almost sounding like a scared little girl. "He didn't say anything about it at all."

"And should he have?" Hermione said bemusedly.

"I-I don't know..." Ginny could feel herself trembling. _What if he doesn't trust me anymore?_ she though hysterically. "I've got to go, I'll think abiut everything we've said when I can," she said hurriedly, her face looking completely terrified. She gave them both a quick hug, and rushed out of the house with Ron and Hermione closely following her hastily, both wondering what had gotten into her as they exchanged shocked looks.

"Ginny," Ron said as soothingly as he could, "calm down -!"

"I've _got_ to leave," she interrupted. "Tom will get even more suspicious of me... oh no... he doesn't trust me anymore, I know it!"

"_Snap_ out of it, Ginny!" Hermione demanded, and she tugged on her friends arm and shook her slightly. "Listen... women have secrets, they share them with their friends normally. When men have secrets, the general idea is to keep it to themselves, and this is the Dark Lord we're talking about here."

"It's true," Ron said reassuringly, and he pulled his sister into a warm hug. "It'll be OK... keep it together for us, we know you're strong."

Ginny sniffed as Ron let her go. "Th-Thanks, Ron, I needed that," she muttered, her voice quivering with panic. "I don't know what I was thinking. But, I do have to go, it's getting late."

"Alright," Ron said gently. "Be careful out there, Ginny."

"You too," she replied, "and you, Hermione."

Hermione smiled, and waved as Ginny walked toward the carriage, and got in, and as it pulled away from the house Ron and Hermione looked at each other with worry before going back inside. As Ginny rode home, that small niggling doubt lay dormant, just for now.

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**A/N:** I'm really sorry that this took so long, but here it is anyway. I did intent to put more at the end of this chapter involving Ginny's visit to R and H's house, which I have already written, but I really need to sleep now, so I'll edit this chapter tomorrow night or the day after with the visit. Anyway, I hope you enjoyed. Good night… falls asleep.

OK, the next chapter, I have no idea when that's going to be posted, but as you can see I am faithful to my story, and will only give up when I am totally and utterly out of ideas and inspiration, but I plan to complete this fic. It will be my last one because I want to explore original fiction from then on, but fanfiction has helped my writing style improve dramatically. I look over this story, and then Warfare and wonder why the hell anyone actually read it, because the writing is so poor; I have actually redone Chapter 2 of Warfare, but it still has the same story, I've just improved the writing, and I'm looking over Chapter 4 at the moment. So check that out from time to time and spot the changes.

PS. I'm surprised that anyone has given me any reviews at all because I've neglected this fic something terrible. PSS. Check my Livejournal for any chapter info and cookies for chapter 14.


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